Philip Bump writes:

On Saturday evening, President Trump’s personal Twitter account was updated with a video message. Trump has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Friday after contracting the novel coronavirus, but the video was pointed in its intent: The president is nonetheless doing well, well enough to offer up a bit of politicking and assurances he’s confident in his recovery.

In case that point was somehow lost on observers, campaign aides like Jason Miller made it more explicitly.

One take, from the heart, no teleprompter.

Over to you, Sleepy Joe! pic.twitter.com/g72jJrre5B

— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) October 3, 2020

The tacit message of the tweet: Even the virus can’t keep this guy down.

But Miller’s presentation of what’s shown is obviously questionable. For one thing, while he boasts that Trump didn’t need a teleprompter, the president can be seen looking down at the sheet of paper in front of him, almost certainly to consult notes about what he plans to say. [Continue reading…]