Like a lion in a cage.
Patient Donald Trump forced into solitary confinement in the Map Room, in the basement of the White House, shudders, paws, rages, refuses to rest as doctors advise and as he should do to recover his strength.
"She hasn't had symptoms for 24 hours and hasn't had a fever for four days," says her doctor.
If it were up to him, he would already be at work among the West Wing runners upstairs.
In the last few hours - say the well-informed - his pressure to return to business as usual has been constant, as has been the insistent request to be able to deliver a speech to the nation: speak to the Americans on live television to reassure that he, virus or not virus, is in charge, in full swing.
And he has absolutely no intention of giving up on the electoral campaign front.
"I can't wait to take on Joe Biden on October 15," he said as soon as he got back from the hospital.
But the Democratic candidate holds back: "If the president has the virus, the Miami debate should not take place", he said, reiterating that the decision will depend only on doctors and experts, who will eventually have to guarantee a challenge in complete safety.
But to know if Trump is completely out of danger we will have to wait at least until next Monday, and the risk that the event will eventually skip becomes more and more probable.
The Donald, however, is not there and wants to return to normal.
For now they have managed to contain it, even if the economic adviser Larry Kudlow on TV revealed that the day after his return from the hospital the president would have gone to the Oval Office, a version flatly denied by a spokesman.
At number 1600 Pensylvania Avenue, in short, in these hours the confusion seems to reign supreme.
A chaos fueled by the avalanche of tweets that Trump, unable to move, continues to post shooting at zero on everyone: Joe Biden falls a shower of insults, defined as "a madman, with a very low IQ, everyone knows ... ".
And then down against the Obamas, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders.
Not to mention the media, a fake news factory and a "real opposition party".
In the morning preceding the expected debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, the two candidates for vice president, there were at least 50 Trump tweets and retweets in just over two hours.
Difficult to stop this stormy sea.
After all, there is practically no one around the president, in isolation and isolated.
The building is deserted, with most of the staff in smart working.
The very few who can approach him, like Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, wear protective suit.
Most of the loyalists, on the other hand, were infected: the last to be positive was political adviser Stephen Miller, as well as spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany and assistant counselor Hope Hicks.
There is also no trusty and confident Kellyane Convey.
In short, the only people who have a minimum of convincing power on The Donald are far away.
The daughter Ivanka and the son-in-law Jared Kushner, fleeing the White House which has become a real hotbed of infection, hear the president only by telephone.
As well as the other two sons Eric and Don junior, with the latter - it is said - worried and critical for the too erratic behavior shown in the last days by their father.
Meanwhile, Nacy Pelosi, speaker of the House and bitter opponent of Trump, sarcastically replies to the president's decision to end negotiations on economic stimulus measures: "I don't want to go near the White House. It's one of the most dangerous places in the country" .
And from the Manhattan appeals court comes another bad news for the president: he will have to submit his tax returns to the New York prosecutor's office investigating family affairs.