Off-the-top-of-my-head theorizing regarding the late-breaking news about President Trump’s health. Happy, light thoughts: rational Republicans are ecstatic that the president has a legitimate external reason to skip or cancel the upcoming debates. Darker, more sober thoughts: the president has another reason to push for a “delay” in the election.

Caveat: in addition to being a political scientist, I’m a science fiction writer, so I often theorize far beyond the probable.

For those who haven’t heard the news: senior presidential advisor Hope Hicks tested positive for Covid-19 Wednesday. About 1am Friday, President Trump Tweeted “Tonight, [Melania] and I tested positive for Covid-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately….”

At the moment, I’m watching CNN live and occasionally jumping to the other news channels. More data in this CNN article.