ON monday, as President Donald Trump left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia tweeted a doctored clip of the president tackling and punching the wrestler Vince McMahon. In the edited version, McMahon’s face has been replaced with a picture of a virus. “COVID stood NO chance against [@realDonaldTrump](/user/profile/realDonaldTrump) !” Loeffler wrote.

The metaphors that Trump and others use when talking about COVID-19 are making the pandemic worse.