[U, X4] With Hope Hicks AND TRUMP Now Reportedly Symptomatic, I Will Simply Wish The Trumps A Full-Recovery. But, Indeed, As Irony Would Have It: "it is... what it is."

Updated -- Trump has been airlifted to Walter Reed, and is getting the experimental Regeneron monoclonal antibodies cocktail (possible off-target effects include anaphylaxis). His doctor says Remdesivir, as well. That does not sound likely as an approach -- for a mild case. [Earlier. . . Kelly Anne Conway is positive; was in Rose Garden last Saturday.] Both of the Trumps are "mildly" symptomatic, as of mid-morning DC time; the RNC Chairwoman has tested positive and is in quarantine in rural Michigan. Fr. Jensen, Notre Dame president, and an attendee at the ACB announcement on the White House Rose Garden lawn, on Saturday. . . has tested positive. ACB apparently recovered from COVID-19 earlier this summer. Mr. Lee (R.), of Utah, was also an attendee -- and is positive. This is a spreader event now unfolding, in real time. End update.

Here is my dilemma as a follower of scientific, empirical evidence: he is a well-documented pathological liar. So, for better or worse, I immediately wonder what he gains -- by faking a positive test. Sympathy from his base, certainly -- and perhaps a talking point, going into November -- as he (again, falsely) "beats" a virus he never contracted -- and makes endless pitches that "it is no worse than a flu". [Even so, I do cringe, a bit -- that these last four years' experience. . . have rendered me this. . . cynical.]

OTOH, I am a compassionate human, and if (as widely reported) Hope Hicks is showing symptoms, in addition to having tested positive -- I wish her only the best. A full and speedy recovery. She is likely already on the drug candidate at right.

Having said that, and given that they all (Hope, Melania and Donald) flew on Air Force One twice as late as Wednesday afternoon, it seems reasonably likely that the commander-in-chief will, at age 74 (and obese, with a poor diet, overall), become symptomatic -- if in fact, a 30-something Hope Hicks is now a fully-symptomatic case (i.e., sick with) COVID-19 virus. Moreover, the bio-scientific / pandemic transmission evidence, for the "clustering" of full-on COVID-19 cases, of this sort. . . is essentially now overwhelming.

So -- on balance -- even accepting that Trump might gain a marginal talking point advantage, by faking a positive test, I suspect in a very few days, even with the entire West Wing on Remdesivir, we now will soon hear that both Donald and Melania are exhibiting symptoms. And when that news comes, it will put to rest any rumors of a faked positive test, by Trump.

And so -- I will close (perhaps uncharitably) by reflecting on Trump mocking Mr. Biden's clarity -- at the debate, about wearing masks. I suspect this is the only way Trump will learn: to have a bad first hand personal experience, from the Darwinian laws -- as applied to pandemics. And that, my friends. . . is genuinely. . . sad. To be clear, my fervent wish is that he will survive this. He should have to live a very long time, after he recovers, with the first hand knowledge of what his fecklessness hath wrought, for at least 210,000 Americans. And I want him well enough to see the inside of a jail cell, in late 2021.

Onward.

नमस्ते