Did Trump Really Get COVID?

On October 1, US local time, Trump tweeted that he'd caught COVID...

Then Chinese media collectively exploded, and it was immediately put on Weibo's trending searches

Just in time to celebrate it together with our National Day~

But while we're watching the show, as armchair political pundits, we can't just blindly follow the crowd—we need to analyze this rationally: the US election is right around the corner, so in theory he should tough it out no matter how hard it is, otherwise the public would say "you're a COVID patient, what are you doing crashing the party to run for president, go home and rest up," but now Trump has suddenly announced his infection with great fanfare—what's he up to? Not spinning a conspiracy theory at a time like this would be a disservice to all those years spent browsing Zhihu's politics and history topics~

Reposting a take from a veteran media friend

Today's explosive news from across the ocean immediately reminded me of the "two bullets" from sixteen years ago. Those who dislike him are celebrating, little knowing that this may well have locked in his win.

For his opponent, the original campaign strategy will be completely thrown into disarray. For at least the next two weeks, all attack lines will have to stop, and the tax-evasion issue that had just been heating up will have to cool off, because criticizing a sick old man—no matter how correct the argument or how solid the evidence—can easily be condemned as immoral and lacking in compassion. Conversely, the one in isolation can still use all kinds of social media to show off his "strength," his "control" over the situation, even recasting himself as a "warrior" who defeated the illness. When he walks out of the hospital ward or isolation room again, he will already be a "hero."

From now until the 3rd of next month, he will say over and over: I got infected, I am one of the millions of infected American citizens, no one understands the suffering and needs of COVID patients better than I do; I've already recovered, which not only shows that my body is way stronger than Sleepy Joe's, but also that this virus has already grown weaker and weaker in our America, herd immunity is not a lie, I believed from the very beginning that we must never weaken the pandemic at the cost of the American people's freedom and the American economy—I won.

Aww, my take is similar to this person's. Anyway, now that Trump has said this, whether he actually has COVID doesn't matter anymore. The key is that in a few days he'll say he's fully recovered like nothing happened, then continue promoting his "COVID is harmless" theory—this is the best comeback to those who previously said he handled the pandemic poorly~

Looks like this presidential seat still has to go to Trump... The fight over this seat this year is truly spectacular...