Our denier-in-chief is on his own

May 16, 2020

OPINION by STEW JENKINS

Good friends, 116,708 American soldiers died in World War One. Of those 53,402 at the hands of German, Austrian and Turkish soldiers. The rest died from the H1-N1 Flu while serving their country in Europe.

Donald Trump may not be responsible for the origins of the virus, but he is at fault for his denial, delay, weakness and failure to lead. Had he acted like a president when he first learned of this disease in early January, the virus would have been contained.

By May 15, 88,000 American were dead from Covid-19, already more than the 52,402 Americans killed in combat during WWI.  While deaths in some parts of the country are going down, in others they are rising, keeping us at about 3,000 dead every day. At that rate, here is what May 2020 portends:

May 16 – 91,000 dead Americans

May 17 – 94,000 dead Americans

May 18 – 97,000 dead Americans

May 19 – 100,000 dead Americans

May 20 – 103,000 dead Americans

May 21 – 106,000 dead Americans

May 22 – 109,000 dead Americans

May 23 – 112,000 dead Americans

May 24 – 115,000 dead Americans

May 25 – 118,000 dead Americans

More Americans killed by President Trump’s delay, denial, and despicable ignorance than were killed by German, Austrian and Turkish soldiers and the flu in World War One.

By mid-August, America will have lost more than the 416,800 Americans killed in combat in World War II; killed by President Trump’s delay, denial, and despicable ignorance.

The denier-in-chief wants you to believe that the number of people dying from the coronavirus is exaggerated. That false propaganda depends on trotting out a very few isolated instances of people’s deaths being miss-categorized in hopes that you will forget that, for every miss-categorized death, there are scores of Americans who have died at home from Covid-19 without ever being diagnosed.

Good friends. God’s speed and good luck. Wear your masks and gloves when you go out, and follow the CDC guidelines when you work. More than at any other time, your family’s health and survival are in your hands alone.

President Trump will not help you and does not care if you survive. For him, you are nothing but a resource to be used and discarded when not useful to him. Trump will fool some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Don’t be fooled by his denial and delay.

To put our country on a war-time footing against these war-level casualties in the second and third waves of this virus, we need a president who cares about you and understands how to mobilize and inspire war-time production to end the carnage of this virus and bring our economy back.  Joe Biden can and will do both.