Political pundits in the United States often speak of the ‘October surprise,’ alluding to breaking news events with potential to alter the trajectory of the presidential race in the culminating month of the electoral process.
The race to the ‘most powerful’ job in the world is no mean feat; often marked by bitter campaign trials even within the same party, during the series of primaries and caucuses held to choose presidential nominees for the two dominant political parties in the US—the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
The ‘October surprise,’ unleashed either by insiders in both the opposition and the Government or by spontaneous independent action, has the potential to swing the electoral mood. Well-timed and aimed at engineering maximum impact to boost a candidate’s chances while hindering the opponent’s prospects, the surprises are often accompanied by various conspiracy theories.
In the whirlwind of events in the run-up to the final election month, one such ‘October surprise,’ albeit of a different kind, was the news of the incumbent President Donald J Trump being infected with COVID-19 on October 2. Even as conflicting signals were sent out about the treatment of the President for COVID-19, this ‘October surprise,’ is unlike others, is self-inflicted, many argue, after months of attempting to downplay the pandemic.
Trump had reportedly compared the pandemic to the flu during a briefing in February, besides and telling a meeting governors at the White House that "a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April...”
By the last day in March, the President had changed his tune, according to a Forbes report, declaring during a White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing that “it's not the flu. It's vicious.” But no serious re-orientation of response was implemented.
The administration’s casual and cavalier attitude led by its Commander-in-Chief has resulted in the US being the worst affected nation in the world both in terms of infection and fatality. As of 4 PM, October 5, the COVID-19 Dashboard by the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University informed that the global COVID-19 tally has passed 35.21 million while the fatalities stood at over 1 million. The United States topped the tally with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at over 7.41 million and 2, 09,725 respectively.
In all likelihood, Trump triumphantly would beat the pandemic and turn back the ‘October surprise’ in his favour in terms of gaining sympathy votes or with a sheer display of machismo. An attitude he displayed, right after declaring he had learnt a “lot about COVID," by throwing out possibly all existing protocol on COVID-19, and ‘surprising’ supporters with a roundly criticised ‘impromptu motorcade.’
The pandemic reaching the highest echelons of power in the US is also a grim but potent and timely reminder that there is no room for complacency and adoption of simple safety precautionary measures like wearing a mask or maintaining social distancing reduce the chances of being infected considerably. Remember, there was reportedly daily testing at the White House, though the two safety protocols cited above were rarely followed seriously.
The non-discriminatory nature of the current pandemic is well-documented. What’s discriminatory is the treatment available and received – either by default or design. The US President is being treated possibly by the best doctors with the best facilities in the world. Accordingly, everyone cannot afford the luxury of such cavalier attitude, particularly in Nagaland. Instead, one should listen to what the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom suggested to the public: "Act fearlessly but with common sense.”
