Is Trump a mass murderer? A compelling case can be made that Trump considers that as long as Covid-19 deaths in the United States are below 2 million that he has beat the worst case scenario for the pandemic.
...When he was informed that an unchecked virus spreading throughout the spring and summer months could result in 2.2 million deaths, he immediately latched onto that number as a “Mendoza line” below which any degree of death was “acceptable” or a “victory.”
If you assume that a couple of million deaths are in the "budget" for this project, then for Trump that's just the cost of doing business. So, in Trump's mind, opening the economy and supporting his fringe anti-mask/anti-lockdown MAGA extremists is an acceptable stance to take. As long as less that 2.2 million Americans die, he can claim success.
This is not a strategy as much as it is another example, albeit an exceptionally deadly one, of Trump’s penchant for taking positions that require the least amount of thought and effort and that are weak and passive (e.g., “we’ll see what happens”). Further, a “strategy” that allows for a massive loss of life is permissible within Trump’s psychopathy and, as a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence put it, Trump’s “flat-out disregard for human life.” It is also consistent with the Trumpian worldview that there are “winners (those that survive)” and “losers (those who allow themselves to be killed).”
Trump continues to do nothing to stem the spread of the virus and, in fact, flaunts even the basic health guidelines such as masks wearing and social distancing. He and his enablers undermine the CDC and other health organizations routinely. This is the behavior of a man who has no consideration for the suffering he is creating and no concern for the deaths his policies are causing.
It's critical now to recognize that Trump's strategy relative to the pandemic was never to take an active role in mitigating the impact of the virus. As long as the overall loss of life was less than that early worst case prediction, Trump believed, and still appears to believe, that he can claim victory. In doing so, Trump is committing mass murder.
...Other countries with rational and competent leaders have gotten the virus under control. Our president is a weak and malicious leader who is choosing a strategy with the largest loss of life.
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