Robert Wright Profile picture
Author of Nonzero, The Moral Animal, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True. EIC @NonzeroPods, @NonzeroNews. @robertwrighter@nonzero.social

Oct 4, 2020, 8 tweets

My theory: Trump's docs are telling the truth about his mild symptoms (though one may have lied about date of treatment or diagnosis) and Mark Meadows is exaggerating symptoms ("very concerning") to make Trump's recovery a more dramatic and heroic story.

Some people (e.g. my wife) think Trump had a kind of panic attack at White House (about his covid), got oxygen for that, and insisted on going to hospital. That could explain why his doc was evasive about whether he'd had oxygen. And why docs reported only mild symptoms.

This could also explain why Mark Meadows, realizing the truth about Trump having gotten oxygen would come out, started claiming the situation had been truly dire at the White House. Would also explain anonymous officials then insisting Trump had resisted going to hospital.

Note that this theory is consistent w/ my theory above, about Meadows crafting a narrative of dramatic, heroic recovery. The added element is that Meadows is also concealing the true narrative: Trump (who is known to have a deep fear of illness) freaking out and overreacting.

Obviously, all of this is speculative. But it seems to account for the known facts as well as any other hypothetical scenario I'm aware of.

PS: Milder version of panic-attack theory: He did have a bit of trouble breathing due to covid (along w/ other, modest, symptoms), freaked out & wanted all possible therapies/precautions. This too is consistent w/ my initial theory & explains Meadows/White House spin.

And finally: My wife adds that based on her reading it's very rare for a covid patient to desperately need oxygen once but never need it again. (And final disclaimer: all this is speculative, and neither my wife nor I is a doctor.)

Update: I have to admit that the last 24 hours of news, especially the docs' Sunday press conference, hasn't been kind to my theory. Too bad. It was a great theory.

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