It seemed inevitable that Trump would get infected, given his insouciance on the issue of protective measures combined with his age, weight and ambitious travel schedule.

They ditched their masks during the debate, ignoring the advice of a representative from the Cleveland Clinic. Members of the Trump family, sitting in the front row, followed the patriarchвЂ™s example. US appeals court pauses release of Trump papers to riot inquiry.In one second, you know whether itвЂ™s going to happenвЂ™

Fintan OвЂ™Toole: Future of the American republic is in grave danger unless Trump is defeated.вЂњHe could be speaking 200 feet away,вЂ™вЂ™ the president continued, вЂњand he shows up with the biggest mask IвЂ™ve ever seen.вЂќ вЂњEvery time you see him, heвЂ™s got a mask. вЂњI donвЂ™t wear masks like him,вЂ™вЂ™ Trump sneered about Biden, at the obstreperous Cleveland debate. He was a perverse Pied Piper of contagion, luring crowds to his rallies and events on the White House lawn, even as he mocked the safety measures recommended by his own government, sidelined and undermined Dr Anthony Fauci, and turned the mask into a symbol of blue-state wimpiness. And, in the end, the con man in the Oval Office could not con the virus. Trump was indecent, on everything from white supremacists to Hunter BidenвЂ™s addiction, and Biden was decent. Instead, the ugly reality was there for all to see: Trump was truculent, whiny and nasty, and Joe Biden was fine. TuesdayвЂ™s debate pierced another reality that Trump had been hawking on Fox for months вЂ“ that his opponent was an addled husk who would need performance drugs to stand at the podium, and that Trump would stride in like a colossus and clobber him in a trice. But the year Trump won the presidency and his first year as president, he paid only $750 in federal income taxes. There were Trump seminars on wealth, and that Midas myth propelled the coarse political neophyte into the White House. There was $500,000 to pitch Double Stuf Oreos, another half-million to sell DominoвЂ™s Pizza and $850,000 to push laundry detergent.вЂ™вЂ™ Ugly reality вЂњThe red ink spilled from everywhere, even as American television audiences saw him as a savvy business mogul with the Midas touch,вЂ™вЂ™ the New York Times reported, adding: вЂњthe showвЂ™s big ratings meant that everyone wanted a piece of the Trump brand, and he grabbed at the opportunity to rent it out. Even as he was beginning to swagger around The Apprentice to the tune of For the Love of Money by The OвЂ™Jays in 2004, he was filing a tax return reporting $89.9 million in net losses.

Remarkable new reporting in the New York Times exposed the hoax of Trump, master businessman. Upsetting as it is to see the president and first lady facing a mortal threat вЂ“ and the glee and memes from some on the left were vulgar вЂ“ it was undeniable that reality was crashing in on the former reality star. The man whose father told him there are only killers and zeros, the man who cruelly castigated others as losers, the man who was taught to fear losing above all else, has been doing some very public losing of his own. It was redolent of the Night on Bald Mountain scene in Fantasia, when all the bad spirits come out in a dark swarm. This was the week when many of the presidentвЂ™s pernicious deceptions boomeranged on him. Now, in a moment that feels biblical, the implacable virus has come to his door. He has played a dangerous game of alchemising wishes to facts, pretending that he was a strong leader, pretending that the virus will magically disappear and that it вЂњaffects virtually nobodyвЂќ, pretending that we donвЂ™t have to wear masks, pretending that dicey remedies could work, pretending that the vaccine is right around the corner. He conjured his own threadbare reality, about success, about virility, about imbroglios with women, even about the height of Trump Tower.ДЄs president, he has created a bubble within his bubble, keeping out science and anything that made him look bad. For his entire life, Donald Trump has stayed one step ahead of disaster, plying his gift for holding reality at bay. Fate leads the willing, Seneca said, while the unwilling get dragged.

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