Trump Has The Rona…Or, Does He?

The conspiracy theories started immediately upon hearing that Donald and Melania “Eff Them Kids” Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus.

This is a good time to remember that misinformation and disinformation are not conservative or liberal behaviors. They are human behaviors.

Is Donald Trump lying about having coronavirus so that he can regain control of a horrible news cycle in which he has proven a tax evader and his First Lady did her best Cruella de Vil imitation? My family group chat is split 50–50, if that is any barometer of where people are on this issue.

Whether you believe that depends on two things: how committed you are to the idea of “grand plans” and why you think Donald Trump lies.

The grand plan fallacy is summed up in the “chess not checkers” trope. That’s the one where powerful people, particularly white men, are playing some complex game of strategy while everyone else is playing the game by rules they do not control and can only…