What would happen if Donald Trump got coronavirus?

As someone who's spent a lot of time in the West Wing during this presidency, I have some predictions

Coronavirus has infected the West Wing. Will it eventually infect Donald Trump? We’ll see what happens, as he would say.

It has driven Anthony Fauci and Mike Pence into something the former calls modified self-quarantine and the latter a less scientific-sounding state called “keeping some distance” from folks.

Those folks include Trump, the President of the United States and – really by default, since all challengers have failed miserably when they’ve had a chance to take possession of the geopolitical crown – the leader of the free world.

Your correspondent has watched this reality TV show of a presidency up close since its first day, often from inside the West Wing. Its seasons run for roughly six months each. That means, around June 30th, we are due for yet another cliffhanger of a dramatic seasobean finale as, by my calculation, the seventh one wraps up.

After much thought, and after examining The Donald’s increasingly cavalier attitude about the coronavirus outbreak, there is only one Season 7 finale that makes sense to this Trumpologist. How better to set up a possible series finale next January, should former vice president Joe Biden defeat him on Election Day, than for the president to contract the virus?

As Trump himself would say: Imagine the ratings.

Pence might be reporting for duty five days a week at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but White House aides have made clear he is not interacting in person with Trump. This decision was made by the VP after speaking with the White House medical team, and no doubt, the US Secret Service – neither is keen on putting POTUS at risk.

And, make no mistake, for The Donald, despite his public bravado, Covid-19 is a threat. He’s 73 years old, and will turn 74 in almost a month, on June 14. (Happy early birthday, Mr President.)

He also is overweight. He gets very little exercise. He has a heart issue. And his diet is, well, not that healthy. Those were the conclusions of Ronny Jackson, the former lead White House physician who was allowed once – and only once – to brief reporters following Trump’s first annual presidential physical exam.

Each one of those attributes, like it or not, put him at great risk should he contract the coronavirus, according to multiple health experts, including some of the top federal infectious disease experts, including Dr Fauci.

This correspondent will pause here and make clear that he is not rooting for anyone to contract Covid-19. Not even his enemies. And, yes, he’s got two or five. (May karma exact my revenge in less painful ways.)

This respiratory ailment is, in its most violent form, a terrible disease that seems to torture its victims, even if they recover in just a few weeks. And, in the president’s own, well, unique words, it also brings about a “bad death” for those who lose the battle.

But it is no longer far-fetched, or even salacious, to wonder what would happen if Trump tests positive. Pence’s press secretary and a White House military valet both tested positive; both were in the West Wing in recent weeks, and the latter, Katie Miller, is married to close Trump aide and confidant Stephen Miller.

Trump, predictably, has brushed off the threat.

“Well, the vice president, first of all, has been tested, and he's negative, and [he] was tested yesterday, tested today, and he's negative,” the president told reporters on Monday. “He's in very good shape. And I think that that's going to be fine.”

But the threat is real. The disease is just that contagious. So what would likely happen if Trump caught coronavirus?

White House aides declined to describe any contingency plans that might be in place, likely locked in a safe with other classified documents. If they even exist. One said it would be irresponsible to discuss such a thing publicly. Maybe. Maybe not, given the public’s right to feel its high command has thought of such awful scenarios.

We know Trump would receive world-class medical care. One should expect nothing more for any US president. So he likely would set up shop in the White House residence, calling Cabinet members, top aides, GOP legislators, friends and other world leaders.

We might actually, paradoxically, hear from him more often if he contracted Covid-19. No one plays the role of victim-in-chief better than Donald John Trump. It has become his default reaction to negative media coverage and tough questions from reporters.

To imagine what a few weeks of living with a Covid-infected Trump would be like, just consider the last five days. There was his latest Fox & Friends call-in interview that spanned nearly an hour on Friday morning. There was his Sunday on Twitter, during which he fired off more than 100 tweets and retweets. There was his Monday afternoon press conference. And there were his Monday tweets.

Imagine a quarantined President Trump reviewing polling data showing him trailing Biden both nationally and in just about every crucial swing state. Americans rally around the flag in times of crisis – and their presidents. So what would stop an infected-but-recovering candidate-in-chief from taking that last step, hoping for what Fox News likely would dub a “Beijing bounce” by accusing China of not just “attacking” the United States, but “attacking” its president? After all, he frequently says Chinese officials would prefer a President Biden and retweeted a post from one of his campaign’s accounts on 29 April that accused the former VP of spending decades in Washington “standing up FOR China.”

“He is a master of taking truth, twisting it into a lie, and getting press on the untruth – a master, Nobel-prize level,” one former official who spent decades in Washington said Wednesday. “He can’t govern, has no head for it at all, but he can sure distort, turn 180 degrees on the truth, make the lie sound compelling, and keep the media focused on him.

“With the help of Fox, it is a masterpiece of manipulation combined with a disaster of governance,” the former official added, who was granted anonymity to be candid.

The Season 7 finale is near. Could it be written any other way, including with a China cliffhanger of epic proportions?