Thread by @djrothkopf

1. We don't know how sick the president is
2. There are clear protocols for both someone with the disease & for how the WH should function if he is incapacitated
3. Trump doesn't do much and what he does is usually damaging so having him out of commission is not a disaster

4. There is an election in four weeks and it is likely the president will be replaced
5. Since the likelihood is Trump will recover, the net substantive impact of this is likely pretty low
6. The president's mental issues, foreign ties & general unfitness remain bigger worries

7. The election and inauguration dates are set and won't be changed
8. Most of the gov't has learned to operate without the involvement of Trump anyway...many, even his supporters, prefer that
9. Trump will have excellent care

10. The reality is an incapacitated Trump is likely to do less damage...especially during these last, waning weeks of an election campaign in which he is far behind and his prospects range from lousy to historically bad

So...let's not hyperventilate here. Because the biggest real risk from Trump having COVID is that it distracts from the urgency of removing him from office, from his crimes, from his racism, from his manifold failures, from the fact that he has betrayed the country.

Perhaps most importantly, let's remember that among the greatest of those crimes is that this president had the information and tools to contain the COVID crisis as other nations did...and he did not do it. Further, he did not do it for reasons that were entirely selfish.

He placed his political well-being ahead of the health, security and well-being of the country and nearly 210,000 are dead as a result, tens of millions out of work, tens of millions more struggling, industries crushed.

He compounded the risks of the virus with his arrogance, rejection of science, corruption and narcissism...all character flaws that were fully on display in the run up to his contraction of the virus and were, in fact, responsible for it.

Don't lament the fate of the arsonist who is singed while burning down your home. Don't fret about the temporary absence from his post of a man who has abused and degraded that high position every moment he has occupied it.

Show decency, of course. Show compassion. But keep it in perspective. Don't let it overshadow what is more important. Trump getting COVID is a further indictment of Trump's despicable record in responding to the disease, not a reason to forget that record even for a moment.

If you are concerned with the health and security of the nation there is one critical step we must take and that is removing Donald Trump from power. He is not the victim here. He is the root cause of many of the most serious problems this country has faced in its history.