Trump's election hopes destroyed following Covid-19 diagnosis, insists expert

3 October 2020, 11:26

President Trump's hopes for reelection are dashed following Covid-19 diagnosis

This American political scientist argued that Donald Trump's reelection hopes are all but gone as a result of him contracting coronavirus.

Brian Klass is fellow at the LSE and told Matt Frei that President Donald Trump's Covid-19 contraction is "a major event" in the US presidential campaign.

Matt wondered if the news of the President's hospitalisation could "change the dynamics of the campaign," but Mr Klass feared that it only accelerates the victory of Joe Biden.

He told LBC that the news "reduces the amount of time he [President Trump] has to reset the narrative of the race."

"The clock is ticking," said the political expert. "When you're losing, that's a bad thing."

He added that President Trump was "hoping that the coronavirus pandemic would not be what the reelection campaign would be about," but now that is unavoidable.

Mr Klass said the President's medical condition "guarantees that this will be the deciding factor in the race."

Matt wondered if the President will "get a sympathy vote out of this" from voters that may have been on the fence to date. Mr Klass didn't think so.

He pointed out that "people who would vote for him do not admire him on a personal level because of his conduct," and thus he felt there would be very little sympathy for Donald Trump's condition.

"He's behaved extraordinarily recklessly in the last seven months," the political expert said, suggesting that this will come back to be his downfall in the election.

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