There is something deeply ironic about the possibility that the Cov-19 outbreak will be the undoing of Trump. Not only is he the science denying congenital liar who fired and disbanded the White House anti-Pandemic public health team, but he is a germaphobe who uses hand sanitisers incessantly.

His cuts to public services have undermined public US medical services and made individual, insurance led, privatised health care the dominant model. He has had no concern for environmental degradation, clean water, sanitation and immunisation services and even decried the Cov-19 crisis as a Democratic hoax - until it became impossible to ignore.

He tried to lay off responsibility for managing the crisis on his hapless VP - Mike Pence - but cannot bear to be left out of the limelight, with the result that he will own the consequences totally. He frames every issue as a conflict between Americans and foreigners and even tried to imply that his Mexican border wall could have stopped the pandemic.

It will be interesting to see the political fall-out as the virus gradually eats into his older demographic support base. Trump will not be defeated by an anaemic opponent such as Joe Biden in the November polls. But he might just be beaten by Cov-19.

Index of Frank's Diaries