New York Magazine - USA (2020-10-12)

16 newyork| october12–25, 2020

As infections swelled nationwide, the
virus made its way inside the president
himself—an epic security failure with no
modern analog. It was over a century ago,
amid a pandemic in 1919, that Woodrow
Wilson got sick in Paris. His White House
blamed what it called a cold and a fever on
the dreary weather. But, in fact, Wilson was
sick with the virus now known as the Span-
ishflu,whichkilledhundredsofthousands
of Americans as his administration looked
away. One hundred and one years later, the
story of Trump’s “mild symptoms” became
lessandlesstrueasthehourstickedby. His
fever crept up. His cough and congestion
grew worse. Doctors gave him oxygen and
administered a high dose of an experimen-
tal antibody treatment unavailable to the
ailing masses and made using fetaltissue,a
practice his administration opposes,from
the drugmaker Regeneron. Still, heresisted
going to Walter Reed. “I don’t need togo,”
he said, according to a person who spoketo
him. “I’m fine. I’m fine. We have everything
we need here.”
Persuading him to leave the White House
required an intervention from hisdoctors,
members of the White House operations
staff, the Secret Service, and his son-in-law
and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.They
had failed to stop the mass deathsofhigh-
risk Americans, but they were going tosave
Trump, the most important high-risk
American of them all. They told him,“This
isn’t just your choice. This really isn’t about
you. It’s about the presidency. Ourjobis to
protect the presidency, and you occupyit.”
They asked him to think about themilitary
and everyone else whose life wouldbe
upended if the state of the country’s leader-
ship was in doubt.
Fine. He agreed to walk across the South
Lawn and board Marine One. The White

Housesaidthemovewasmade“outofan

abundanceofcaution.”In a videopostedon

socialmedia,thepresidenthintedthat

thingsweren’t sogreat. He putit thisway:

“I’mgoingtoWalterReedhospital.I think

I’mdoingvery well,butwe’regoingtomake

surethatthingsworkout.”

Inthehospital,Trump’sworldshrank

overnightina wayit hadn’t sincehearrived

inWashingtonfromNewYorktobesworn

intoofficenearlyfouryearsago. Contagious

andisolatedfromhisfamilyandclosest

aides,hewasaccompaniedbyDanScavino,

thesocial-mediadirectorwhohadfirstbeen

hiscaddieandhadsurvivedat hissidelon-

gerthananyonewhowasn’t blood,and

MarkMeadows,hishighlyemotionalchief

of staff, whosleptina roomnearby, andwas

at tendedtobya teamofcamera-conscious

doctors.In thissterilizedconfinement,he

triedtodistracthimselffromhisillness.He

plottedhisescape,plannedpublic-relations

stunts,watchedTV, andtookcallsfrom

friends,membersofhisstaff, andRepubli-

canlawmakers.Butheremainedconsumed

bywhatthedoctorstoldhimabouthis

chancesofsurvival.It wasn’t a surething.

Ninemonthsintothepandemicandone

monthaway fromElectionDay, thepresi-

dentconsideredforthefirst timethat the

diseasekillinghiminthepolls,threatening

hispoliticalfuture,mightjustkillhim,too.

Onthephoneheremarkedsarcastically,

“Thischange ofscenery hasbeengreat.”

Heaskedforanupdate onwhoelseinhis

circlehadcontractedthevirus,thoughhe

expressednoregret, noindicationthat he

understoodhisowndecisionscouldhave

ledtotheinfections.Unabletoprocessthe

ironyofhisownmisfortune,hetriedhis

besttofindtheTrumpiestspin.Lookedat

oneway, hewashavingthegreatestand

mostimportantillnessofalltime.He had

thebestcareintheworld,andheraved

aboutthevirtuesofthedrugsthedoctors

hadhimon,includingdexamethasone,a

steroidpumpinguphislungsthat can

induceeuphoria.Hewasawedbythewon-

dersofmodernmedicine.Hesaidhewas

feelingreallygood,andit didn’t soundlike

hewaslying.Thenheadmittedsomething

scary. Thathowhefeltmightnotmean

muchintheend.

“Thisthingcouldgo eitherway. It’stricky.

They toldmeit’s tricky,”thepresidentsaid.

“Y oucantellit cango eitherway.”

S

tatistically,thecoronavirus

ismorelikelytocost Donald

TrumptheWhiteHousethan

hislife,thoughthethreattothe

latterisn’t helpingtheformer.

Threeweeksbeforetheelection,

potentially contagious and freaking

everybodyout,Trumpfaceswhat looks

liketheendofhispresidency. “He’smis-

handledthecoronavirus,he’s neverbeen

popular,andhe’s gonnalosebadly. I think

it’ s prettysimple,” a seniorRepublican

officialsaid.“Ofcoursehewasgoingto

say, ‘Ohlook,I feelgreat! Lookhowbadly

I beatthispuny littlevirus!’Meanwhile,

intelligencer

This is what it

looks like when the

president knows

he’s losing, but

it’s also close to

what it looked like

wh en he won.

SEPT. 26: Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden to announce Amy Coney

Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

PHOTOGRAPH: CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS