How many deaths, Trump? How many deaths?

Starting some time in 2018, if I recall correctly, Donald J. Trump began detaining migrant children along our southern border, separating them from their parents and locking them in cages, where some of them eventually died. As far as we know, a lot of them are still there, and if the COVID-19 virus ever gets in, more of them could die there. It was Trump’s strict zero-tolerance border policy that locked them in cages like discarded shelter animals as a way to discourage more migrants from coming to America.

Every one of those deaths belongs to Donald J. Trump.

In August 2017, Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who — emboldened by the implied support of the president of the United States — held a rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which a 32-year-old woman was killed.

Her death belongs to Donald J. Trump.

In October, Trump pulled U.S. troops from the border between northeastern Syria and Turkey, abandoning our allies the Kurds who had been fighting terrorists on our behalf. That allowed Turkish forces to overrun the area, forcing 130,000 Kurds to evacuate their homes. A day later, 60 civilians and more than 100 Kurdish fighters had been killed as a result of the offensive. I don’t know what has happened since, but I don’t think it has been good.

Those Kurdish deaths belong to Donald J. Trump.

In a broader context, Trump and his administration from Day 1 have been rolling back government regulations designed to protect the health and safety of Americans. For example, they have allowed coal mine operators to dump waste material into nearby streams; encouraged the production of fossil fuels while discouraging clean energy sources; replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would have set strict limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, with a new version that would let states set their own rules; revoked California’s power to set its own more stringent emissions standards for cars and light trucks; and rescinded water pollution regulations for fracking on federal and Indian lands.

That’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Trumpites have rolled back or weakened 25 air pollution and emissions regulations, 19 more relating to drilling and extraction, eight pertaining to toxic substances and 10 involving water pollution. The New York Times has compiled a comprehensive list. Click here to read more.  

Admittedly I have no way of knowing how many people have died or will die as the result of Trump’s regulation rollback, but whether the number is 1 or 100 million, those deaths will belong to Donald J. Trump.

And now comes COVID-19. The deadly illness sweeping the globe was first detected in China in December 2019. The U.S. became aware of it in early January of this year, probably around or before January 7 when the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the outbreak as a new coronavirus. On January 21, the first confirmed case was reported in Washington State. The WHO declared a global emergency on January 30.

Skipping through February to March 8, the U.S. had 500 confirmed cases. Sporting events were canceled, schools and businesses were closed and people were advised to avoid crowds. On March 13, a full 74 days or two-and-a-half months after the disease was first reported, President Trump finally declared a national emergency. Here’s what he said publicly before that:

Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” – CNBC interview.

Jan. 30: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us … that I can assure you.” — Speech in Michigan.

Feb. 10: “Now, the virus that we’re talking about having to do — you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in great shape though. We have 12 cases — 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.” — At the White House.

Feb. 14: “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus.  So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner.” — Speaking to Border Patrol Council.

Feb. 23: “We have it very much under control in this country.” — Speaking to reporters.

Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” — Tweet.

Feb. 26: “So we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.” — White House briefing.

Feb. 26: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” — Press conference.

Feb. 26: “I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” — Press conference, when asked if U.S. schools should prepare for a spreading coronavirus.

Feb. 27: “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” — White House meeting.

March 4: “We have a very small number of people in this country [infected]. We have a big country. The biggest impact we had was when we took the 40-plus people [from a cruise ship]. … We brought them back. We immediately quarantined them. But you add that to the numbers. But if you don’t add that to the numbers, we’re talking about very small numbers in the United States.” — White House meeting with airline CEOs.

March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” — Tweet.

March 10: “And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” — After meeting with Republican senators.

A day later, on March 11, the WHO declared the global outbreak a pandemic.

Setting aside the fact that most of what Trump said in those quotes was a lie, it’s clear to see how unprepared, unqualified and uninformed he was in dealing with a global health emergency. As everyone should know by now, virtually everything the president said and did during January, February and early March was orchestrated to keep the Stock Market high, which Trump sees as his ticket to re-election. Translation: He was protecting himself while risking the lives of 320 million Americans.  

To date, at 11 a.m. on April 4, a total of 279,500 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States and 7,457 Americans have died. The number is rising by the hour. (Click here for real-time data.) Estimates now range from 100,000 to 250,000 deaths before the current crisis subsides, and health experts say we should be prepared for a second wave next fall.

So my question is this: How many people have to die before someone does something? More to the point, what is the acceptable death toll before people stop supporting this president or, better yet, refuse to vote him back into office in November? Is 250,000 the tipping point? What if the body count goes higher, say, to 500,000…or a million…or two million. What is the magic number that will finally convince people to vote against Donald Trump when the next election rolls around?

Hillary Clinton was hounded for years because four people died at Benghazi under her watch as Secretary of State, even though there was little she could have done to prevent it. That was a tragedy for sure, but in my mind, if only one person had died from COVID-19 because of the president’s incompetence and neglect, because he waited too long to act while trying to protect both the Stock Market and his reputation, that should be enough to make me want to vote for someone else.

Put another way, if you go out in November and vote for Donald Trump again after the thousands of deaths that are on his head – from kids in cages to Charlottesville to Syria to COVID-19 – then every one of those deaths belong to you, too. Is that too harsh? I don’t think so. Like the president’s people say now when trying to duck responsibility, “We’re all in this together.”

If that’s true, then you have to take the bad with the good. Sleep well.