Thread by @GrantRants

This is a pretty weird bit of analysis by Kinsella that pretty well fails to put Trump and Bouchard into their actual contexts.

How COVID-19 may have saved Donald Trump’s campaign thespec.com/opinion/contri… via @thespec

It is true that after having survived the flesh-eating bacteria that claimed his leg, Bouchard's already high level of popularity in Quebec turned into a cult thing, and he was regarded nearly as a saviour figure by separatists. But, contextually, it doesn't compare to Trump.

For one thing, Bouchard was not leading the province or the country, he did not have a long track record of spectacular failures in his wake and was not regarded as an existential threat to democracy itself. Trump checks all these boxes for all kinds of reasons.

Bouchard was already a popular politician in Quebec - well respected even by federalists - before he survived a deadly illness and he was not responsible for multiple serious crises like Trump is.

Also, Bouchard did not acquire his illness by publicly and brazenly flouting public health protocols in a pandemic and he played no role in getting other people sick with a potentially life-threatening disease.

While Trump survival - presuming he does not take a bad turn over the next few days - will make him more popular with the crowd that already compares him to Jesus, it is not even close to the same thing as the Bouchard situation.

Context matters and looking to one politician who got a serious illness then look at Trump and say "could be the same" is to miss that critical context. Trump is not Bouchard on any level.
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