The news out of Brasilia, Brazil that the president of Latin America’s largest nation has tested positive for COVID-19 leaves me with terribly mixed feelings.

I don’t want Jair Bolsonaro to get seriously ill from the virus, even though he is what you could call a “pandemic denier.” He and his pal Donald J. Trump had locked arms in solidarity in dismissing the danger posed by the coronavirus that has swept around the world.

Now he’s sickened by it. He wasn’t taking personal precautions. Bolsonaro was running around without a mask, he wasn’t keeping appropriate distance from others. He was calling it no worse than the flu.

OK. Now he’s tested positive for the disease. Will the docs in Brazil treat it like the flu? I doubt it. Seriously.

What about his pal, The Donald?

So far, Donald Trump has tested negative every time he’s been tested. Or so he tells us. Is he telling us the truth? I have difficulty taking anything he says at face value. About anything at all.

Don Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, has tested positive and has been quarantined for two weeks. That means the virus is inching ever closer to the president, who’s already seen several members of his staff and the Secret Service detail afflicted by the virus.

My mixed feelings are troubling to me. I am not proud of acknowledging that I care far less about Donald Trump’s personal well-being than about the government he was elected to lead. It’s just the way I feel about the man, given his own callous disregard for others. I figure he’s merely reaping what he’s sown in my own heart.

I do worry about the executive branch of our government, which isn’t running well as it is. What might occur if Donald Trump takes ill? What happens to the decision-making process? Does the chaos accelerate?

These aren’t far-fetched questions to ponder, given what we’ve seen occur in Brazil with another world leader who has been as cavalier about the pandemic as the U.S. president has been.

Might President Bolsonaro’s illness be something of a wakeup call for his good buddy in Washington? Perhaps we can get some actual seriousness from the White House about the tragedy that has befallen so many Americans.