Amy Wilentz writes:

Donald Trump has always thought of himself as above the rules. He has demonstrated this conviction throughout his life: in his business, in his personal behavior, and for almost four years as president of the United States. So we know what to expect from him. But even when Trump does what’s expected—which is generally the worst thing anyone can picture him doing—his actions or inactions can still astonish those Americans who are holding on to their sanity by the thinnest of threads in these insane times.

Trump’s cavalier conduct in the face of the coronavirus pandemic has shown that he imagines himself to be not only above the rules but above science itself, above knowledge, above medicine, immunology, and epidemiology. Trump has known since February that COVID-19 is a serious disease. Nonetheless, he and his staff have gone about their business publicly as if there were no pandemic, putting their friends and families, their colleagues, and by extension the American people in the worst kind of danger.

Even more astonishing is that he endangered himself as well. Last week, he spent days in close confines with Hope Hicks, whom he quickly found out was infected, and then bustled off to an event with donors during which he never told them he was at risk, though they came together for part of the time in an indoor dining room.

Perhaps he didn’t really believe that the virus could touch him. Perhaps Trump thought the pandemic was only for other people, suckers and losers. [Continue reading…]