"All In" Is A Weak Move, Not A Strong One

In poker terms, Trump has gone "all in."  In moving back to the White House he'll have his bully pulpit back, and some modicum of control over a narrative that is increasingly looking good for Joe Biden after an objectively disastrous debate performance.

Of course, "all in" means you've also played your last move.

Here, it also  means further risking the lives of the White House staffers around him, the Secret Service, White House janitorial and management, and of course, literally all of their family members.

Obviously, this shocks nobody.  There has always been a Jonestown quality to Trump's support, both officially (Republicans cowed into not wearing masks) and unofficially (crowds of supporters herded into indoor arenas).

It's still two or three days before we know just how severe a case of COVID-19 Trump has picked up.  If he goes straight back onto the campaign trail, only to flee back to Walter Reed with inflamed lungs and needing oxygen, he'll look even weaker than the overweight, under-exercised, 74 year-old he actually is.  Game over, figuratively at best.

Republicans are still going to try and do everything they can to steal this election, but Trump's "outs" are growing scarcer and more dangerous by the day.  (Hour?)  Gas-lighting a pusillanimous and easily-led US media is one thing.  Playing games with a goddamn killer virus is another.

Again, this is not at all a call for complacency.  I'm just pointing out that these are the final, desperate moves of someone who knows he's in trouble (politically and physically) and more importantly, knows he has no options left.

Anybody familiar with Texas Hold'em (even rank amateurs like me) knows that moving all your chips in is usually the desperate move, not the strong one.  Nine times out of ten, it signals "please don't realize how fucked I really am," not "recognize my status as a preternatural He-Man."

Staying put at Walter Reed and milking hourly empathy points from FOX, and probably even to a lesser extent CNN would have been the confident move.  "For any American suffering from the China Virus, I know how difficult it is!"

But alas, this is a lifelong loser making what might be his final loser move.

It's only a question of how many actual human lives he manages to take with him before it's over.