Is Trump politically a dead man walking?

THERE is no doubt that the standards set for measuring the performance of the American presidency have been dropping in the last four years. Hence even voters who plan to re-elect President Donald Trump admit that they have been appalled by daily scenes of chaos at the White House with its many political scandals and bureaucratic intrigues and a president who at times seemed not to know what he was doing.

But with the president's Covid-19 diagnosis and with other aides testing positive for the virus, things are looking worse even by the low standards of the current White House.

More than a week after he was hospitalised, many unanswered questions remained about the president's illness. Confused White House aides (at least those who have not contracted the virus) were trying to make sense of what is happening after the president declared that his illness and hospitalisation had been "a blessing from God" and that he has been "cured" and was ready to hold election campaign rallies around the country. He plans to do that despite the fact that he has been on three different medications and that healthcare guidelines issued by his own administration require patients recovering from the coronavirus to stay quarantined.