He knows the truth even if he can’t face it.
I’m sure his anger at China will only intensify over the next few weeks. In his mind, the “China virus” is to blame for his otherwise wildly successful administration’s dismal election prospects. And now it’s personal with him catching it himself - an assassination attempt by China as some MAGA idiot on Twitter suggested. I trust that there’s a big enough buffer of relative sanity between him and the launch codes that he can’t start armageddon. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see a last ditch attempt to escalate some kind of crisis with China.
Bass Clarinet Guy is the BEST. Love the Overture from CANDIDE.
Can we invite the British to come back and burn the White House down again? Even if we sanitize it of all the COVID-19, we’ll never get the stench of this administration off it.
I follow some medical people on Twitter, and they say that he is definitely having trouble breathing. They say that his shoulders rising every time he breathes indicates that
If you watch, his shoulders rise as he tries to inhale. That means he’s not taking air deep into his lungs for some reason and only getting superficial intake.
Another person adds:
It’s called accessory breathing, when your diaphragm isn’t getting the job done your body enlists your accessory muscles (in your upper chest mostly) to help, leading to that shoulder action you’re seeing
Followed by a nurse chiming in that
As a nurse, when I see this, I am scared. I slap oxygen on the patient and call for respiratory right away.
The consensus seems to be that he’s in deep respiratory distress, and that he might have COVID pneumonia.
He’s got a rictus he trots out for his thumbs-up photo-ops, and a grimace the rest of the time, as if he’s aware a normal person would smile but he’s still practicing his in front of a mirror. I think he had a real smile when he was in the Oval Office spilling the beans to the Russian Ambassador and the Foreign Minister.
My message of peace and reconciliation to the Republicans on LinkedIn: If you truly love this frail, sickly failure, don’t condemn him to four more years. Send him home, home to rest.
Ok, somebody please reassure me that he’s not going to just get over this thing and be fine. I mean, the drugs they gave him are for really sick people. And watching him gasping for breath-- he’s still a very sick dude, right? Please tell me he is. 
Rest assured, this is still in the beginning phase.
Thank you. Now I can go to bed and dream of the headlines tomorrow morning. 
He is doing performative fascism, a la Mussolini. Of course he smiles. Did you forget all of his clowning?
He is acting out the strong man routine to the point of being a human statue in the pictures. Which is the whole point. I bet he doesn’t feel that strong right now.
Thanks for that lucid explanation. I watched a few seconds of him standing at the balcony again, and agree that his shoulders rise and fall - possibly somewhat obscured by the fact he keeps fussing with his jacket, but even so it is fairly clear in spots.
I went and watched the video and the first thing I thought was accessory muscle use. He is clearly trying to hide that he is out of breath. Also note how many tries it takes him to button his coat. That is not someone feeling well.
I think you need to be prepared for this. Even without the best healthcare in the world he was more likely to come through unscathed than not. There is, of course, a non trivial chance that he’ll end up like Herman Caine but I think it’s small. And if he does get very sick they’ll hide it and we’ll never know.
I think that will not be the case, they will do the damnedest to hide it, but many will notice the lack of rallies or golfing trips if he does get very sick.
You’re thinking of the Canadians, I believe.
I resent this vile calumny! 
Canada didn’t even exist as a country during this period (the War of 1812). It was a British colony, and the invasion and burnings in the US capital was done by British soldiers staged from the colony that now forms parts of Canada:
But I do agree with you that the White House will have to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected when the Orange Peril is finally and probably forcibly removed. It might indeed be easier and safer to burn the place down and rebuild it. Actually, borrowing a page from when I found a mouse inside my barbecue, setting fire to the place might be a convenient way to get him the fuck out.
Dayum! You called it, big time:
Around 2:30 p.m. E.T., Trump shared that he would be discharged from Walter Reed by Monday evening (October 5). “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid,” Trump tweeted. “Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
Just wow.
And, of course, it got worse.
With a side of Dear Leader.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-white-house-biden/index.html
Strongly medicated.
I can only assume that Putin is paying Trump a bounty (in the form of a credit against his debts to the Mafiya) for each dead American.
That elicited an actual snigger. Well played.