Trump's positive Covid test was a surprise that many saw coming

The president has been cavalier throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Now, a month before the election, this changes everything

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It is likely to go down as the biggest October surprise" in the history of US presidential elections. Yet anyone who was paying attention could have seen it coming.

Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus after claiming it will disappear", telling the journalist Bob Woodward he was downplaying it deliberately, failing to develop a national testing strategy, refusing to wear a face mask for months, floating the idea of injecting patients with bleach, insisting to one of his many crowded campaign rallies that it affects virtually nobody" and, at Tuesday's debate, mocking his rival, Joe Biden: He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."