How does Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis shape the campaign's final month?

His campaign announced that all planned events involving the president are temporarily postponed or going virtual.

By OMRI NAHMIAS
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the first 2020 presidential campaign debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden held on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., September 29, 2020. (photo credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/POOL VIA REUTERS)
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the first 2020 presidential campaign debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden held on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., September 29, 2020.
(photo credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/POOL VIA REUTERS)
US President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis injects additional uncertainty into a race that is already like no other in recent history, and is expected to reshape the presidential race’s final weeks.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on Friday that the president is showing mild symptoms of the virus. Public events have been cleared from his schedule.
Most notably, Trump is entering the home stretch of the race without the ability to host rallies. For Trump, the rallies, which would usually occur in an open location, were the preferred way to directly take his message to supporters, mostly in swing states. In the past week, for example, he hosted rallies in Pennsylvania and Florida, as well as in Virginia and Minnesota.
His campaign announced that all planned events involving the president are temporarily postponed or going virtual. “In addition, previously announced events involving members of the First Family are also being temporarily postponed,” the campaign said in a statement. The campaign also announced that other events would be considered “on a case-by-case basis.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence, who has tested negative for COVID-19, is expected to take a step forward as his campaign events resume as usual.
Following the civil unrest in Wisconsin, Oregon, and other states across the country in recent weeks, Trump’s message for suburban voters was heavily focused on “law and order,” as he was making the case that he is the better candidate when it comes to fighting crime. Now, the focus has shifted back to COVID-19 and the administration's handling of the pandemic, rather than the president's message.
Another issue that is thrown into question is the mere existence, as well as the format, of the next presidential debates. Will it be a Zoom debate, will the upcoming debate scheduled for October 15 be skipped, or will the last two debates be packed into the last week of October? All options are possible, but the Commission on Presidential Debates has yet to indicate any change to the schedule.
Prof. Tammy Vigil, an expert on presidential debates, told The Jerusalem Post that Trump’s diagnosis raises the stakes for the vice presidential debate. “It brings the question of presidential succession/ascension to the forefront of questioning those who would be ‘a heartbeat away from the presidency,’” she said.
“While it sort of needs to be ‘wait and see’ right now, I’d say the Commission on Presidential Debates should cancel the second debate and plan for a modified third one on the scheduled date,” she continued. “It would be a shame [to cancel the second debate] since that is the town hall format involving undecided voters, but the risks associated with Trump’s condition would make it irresponsible to hold it as planned because it is within the recommended quarantine period.”
Vigil also noted that trying to organize two debates in one week would be difficult from a scheduling perspective.
“A Zoom-style debate is possible if Trump’s symptoms are mild or under control, but that would be really hard to manage from the ‘rules’ standpoint,” she said. “For example, one of the standard rules is that no notes can be used; in a Zoom setting, you can’t tell what’s in the room or available to the candidates.”
Another question is how it could reshape the polls and the results. That question remains open for now, as most experts and pollsters indicated Friday they do not have new data to know if, and how, it might affect the vote – which is already underway in many states.


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