Week 203 - Super-Spreader

On Thursday of this week, around 5 p.m., I  tweeted that this week was unusually quiet in terms of the chaos, and  was on pace for the fewest broken norms in 2020. I wrote that I was not  sure what to attribute it to, but “We might be heading toward the end.”  Hours later, Bloomberg News  reporter Jennifer Jacobs broke the news that Hope Hicks had tested  positive for coronavirus, which led to a cascade of disclosures. Shortly  after midnight that evening, Trump announced on Twitter that both he  and First Lady Melania were also positive.

The original plotline seemed to set Hicks up to  be the patsy, but within the next 24 hours, it became clear that most  top Republicans contracted the virus at a White House reception for the  announcement of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney  Barrett, held Saturday, even before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried.

Ahead of these disclosures, this week was the  first presidential debate, which many pundits pegged as the worst in  modern history. Trump was an unhinged, raging, maniacal mess, who  delivered no campaign message but anger. One startling takeaway was  Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists. Again. In fact, he  ordered far-right hate group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand  by.” He also spewed a series of lies about election fraud, and continued  to undermine the validity of the upcoming election. The Times noted in a front page story that the country has successfully held  presidential elections since 1788, but “now faces the gravest challenge  in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers  power.”

As the week came to an end, Trump was admitted  to Walter Reed Medical Center. As has been the case in all his years in  office, there was no clear communication or truth about his condition.  The American people sat on edge with Election Day one month away, unsure  about his condition, and even when he tested positive for the virus.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-203/