Vanity Fair political correspondent Gabriel Sherman’s newest Trump World/GOP insider quote-fest is up and it’s really fucking unhinged. Here are the best parts:
- “‘He didn’t want to go to the hospital a month before the election,’ a Republican close to Trump told me. Two sources said doctors gave Trump an ultimatum: he could go to the hospital while he could still walk, or doctors would be forced to take him in a wheelchair or on a stretcher at a later point if his health deteriorated.”
- “Two sources told me Trump experienced heart palpitations on Friday night—possible side effects of the experimental antibody treatment he received. Trump has wondered aloud if he could defeat the disease. ‘Am I going out like Stan Chera?’ Trump has asked aides, referring to his friend, New York real-estate developer Stan Chera, who died of COVID in April.”
- “‘Meadows has said if Trump can get out of the hospital by Tuesday, then he’s gone through the worst of it. But if he’s still there after Tuesday, the worst is yet to come,’ the source told me.”
- “Inside Trumpworld, the shock of Trump’s hospitalization is giving way to despair about his prospects in the upcoming election. ‘They all know it’s over,’ a Republican close to the campaign said. ‘This is spiraling out of control,’ a former West Wing official said.”
- “Some Trump allies are entertaining conspiracy theories that the White House outbreak was caused by someone with political motives. ‘It’s weird that all these Republicans are getting it,’ a prominent Republican told me. ‘I don’t know what the fuck is going on. But one thing I’ve learned is: when something major happens thirty days before an election, it usually has to do with the election.’ (There is no evidence for this wild claim).”