How Many People Has Trump Killed? Now We Know.
I first started writing this article some time in 2019, long before the coronavirus. And it sat it my ‘drafts’ folder. And it sat. And then the world changed. And we finally got the answer to the oft-asked hypothetical, “but what will Trump’s incompetence result in when he faces a really serious global challenge, not just a little political skirmish?” Now we know.
The woman in Charlotesville, North Carolina. She wouldn’t have died if not for the encouragement that Trump has give to cavemen.
The two refugees face down in the Rio Grande. Refugees die every day, not to mention those they’ve left behind who suffer similar fates in the conditions from which they try to escape, but these two are Trump’s unique brand of media artwork.
Dozens of immigrants in detention camps. America’s low point, until the next morning when Trump goes back to his easel to craft a new artwork of fascism. Today, July 23, 2020, the palette has a fresh coat of old paint: the German Gestapo… as unidentified federal troops invade American cities and torment the public protesters. We all sit here gape-jawed, saying “It can’t get this bad. Well, they’re just assaulting protesters. At least they’re not knocking on front doors of citizens… that would be a bridge too far… then we’d rise up.” Would we? No. This is how it happens. To the black world, this has already happened and happens every day. This was the Brionna Taylor murder, sleeping in her own home. Get used to it, white America. Equality isn’t always fun.
I’m sure there’s more to the ‘small list’ above, but the “big one” makes that count a mere rounding error.
As of today, 140 thousand people have died of coronavirus in the US, compared to 623 thousand globally. That’s 23%. But we have only 4.2% of the world’s population. U.S. citizens are dying at 5.5 times the global rate. If we died from the virus at the global rate, only 26 thousand Americans would have died. The difference, 116 thousand is the number that have died because of incompetence, given that we’ve been among, if not “the” global technology, science, and medicine leader for the last 100 years.
[Update October 9, 2020, 213 thousand dead. Do the math, folks.]
116,000 people would still be alive if the US had successful leadership. Can we quibble about whether many of those people, in their old age, merely lost years of longevity? Go ahead, make that argument if it makes you feel better. Then go take a look in a mirror and ask yourself what you’re making an excuse for.
But Trump didn’t do this alone. Even Little Donald isn’t capable of such misery on his own. He had a new structure that the Founding Fathers had not designed. At the core he has the co-executive, co-equal triumvirate of Barr (the most corruptly dangerous man in American history?), Trump, McConnell. And propping it all up and insulating it from our Constitution he had the cowardly U.S. Senate.
The only solution right now is term limits. Technology has surpassed the 240-year brilliance of our Founding Fathers’ document and only term limits can begin to return it to functionality.
