As of this writing, more than 100 Americans have died from the COVID-19 virus.
There are two things that can be safely stated about that number. First, the total is going to greatly increase over the next several weeks to months. Second, we don’t know what the final total will eventually be.
There is one more assumption that can be made. The final death toll would be much less if our government, specifically President Donald Trump, would have competently addressed the problem at the outset.
One could justifiably blame it on his medical ignorance, or his hubris, or his need to strip the government of all Obama safeguards, or his focus on his own image, or his practice of staffing key positions with supporters rather than professionals that may disagree with him, or his need to protect his assets, any one or combination of his leadership deficiencies.
The point is, this should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed his administration and the aides who enable his incompetence.
What may be more disturbing is he made what has turned out to be a prescient statement during his 2016 presidential campaign and I quote, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose any voters.”
He has finally put that pronouncement to the test. This coronavirus outbreak should be considered his “Fifth Avenue.”
While it will be impossible to determine which specific lives will be lost because of him, there is no doubt there will be significant and unnecessary deaths directly as a result of his ineptitude. That can’t be changed. The damage has been done as private and local resources rather than the federal government have stepped up to fill the vacuum left by his leadership.
The question now becomes, did he just get away with shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue? We won’t know until November, having missed our chance with the impeachment trial.
It will be interesting to see if the same apologists will be saying, “He has learned his lesson,” or, “He really didn’t do anything that bad.”
I guess we will see if he was correct about shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
G. Remington Brooks, M.D., Holladay
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