Donald Trump’s COVID Deaths

ADDED: the Economic Impact — Donald Trump first got rid of the pandemic response team, and then we got COVID-19 and a global pandemic. His mixed messages made COVID-19 worse here than anywhere else in the world, and he caused hundreds of thousands to die needlessly. This led to shutdowns, as mixed information abounds. Shutdowns led to recessions and supply chain disruptions. It took three years for Joe Biden to dig out of the Trump economic COVID mess and restore supply chains (and the accompanying inflation).

These are Donald Trump’s COVID Deaths

How many COVID-19 deaths were unavoidable, and how many was Trump responsible for? What about President Biden?

According to Statista.com, over 6.8 million people have died worldwide from the virus, with the U.S. having the most by far, at well over 1 million. Many medical experts have blamed former President Donald Trump for half of our nation’s COVID deaths. His actions or inaction were identified as the cause, although he did get credit for developing a vaccine in record time under Operation Warp Speed.

Here are 19 Facts about Trump’s COVID Deaths:

1. Although Trump’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed, he weakened its coverage, increased the number of uninsured people by 2·3 million, and accelerated the privatization of government health programs. This became more of an issue when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
2. Trump was warned a week BEFORE he took office that trouble was coming, Obama even left him a detailed plan to avoid a pandemic. But Trump ignored those warnings and even froze the CDC’s budget because he wanted money to build a wall.
3. Trump undermined global cooperation for health by exiting our participation in the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Initiative.
4. Trump dismantled the Global Health Security and Biodefense unit that Barack Obama established in 2015, even though the idea originated with Bush.
5. Trump knew early on that this novel Coronavirus was airborne. He later told book author Bob Woodward that he also knew how dangerous and lethal it was. He said he didn’t disclose that so people wouldn’t “panic,” but that ultimately left people unprepared to protect themselves.
6. Trump officials tried unsuccessfully to block CDC health expert Nancy Messonnier from warning us that the virus’s spread in the United States was inevitable. Once the news broke, however, Trump downplayed the danger, prevented further CDC briefings, and continued to hold super-spreader events. He called COVID “a democratic hoax” and said it would ‘magically’ disappear before Easter.
7. All Trump had to do was to see what the Chinese leaders did about the epidemic and copy it. China had far fewer deaths (5,272 vs our 1,161,164 as of 5/2/2023), even their population is four times greater.
8. Tons of masks, gowns and respirators were sent to China in early February 2020, just as the WHO warned about the limited stock of PPE.
9. Trump later blamed China for COVID, calling it the “Chinaaa-Virus.”
10. The WHO offered us testing kits that they already had available, but Trump refused to buy them. Meanwhile, the CDC-developed tests were not working properly.
11. Trump minimized testing in general and even refused to test cruise ship passengers or let them disembark. He wanted to “keep the numbers low,” referring to confirmed cases.
12. Trump refused to use the power of the federal government to purchase the desperately needed gloves, PPE, respirators, and test kits. Instead, he had Federal agents seize the existing supply and forced governors to beg or look elsewhere. In Maryland, the Governor ordered Test Kits from South Korea on his own. He had them flown non-stop to Baltimore, where they were unloaded and guarded by the National Guard and State Police, then hidden in a secret location away from Trump officials.
13. Trump left it up to each governor to find those resources, even while people were dying like flies.
14. His administration did nothing to tell people how to make their own masks, and Trump instead met with a “fringe group” that advocated for a dangerous herd immunity strategy proposed by Dr. Scott Atlas, then a White House special advisor.
15. Trump’s businesses were losing 100’s of millions of dollars in revenue as governors imposed economic shutdowns, and this was a possible reason for objecting. He had already lost his DC hotel, and other properties were clearly in the cross hairs.
16. This was the same reason so many mega pastors and church leaders opposed bans on group gatherings. For them too, it was all about the money and never about health or saving lives.
17. There were apparently many fraudulent applications submitted during Trump’s administration of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program due to the lack of controls that have since been added under the Biden administration.
18. With COVID and science so politicized, Trump’s base refused the vaccine, distancing, mask wearing, or other steps necessary to protect themselves. Instead, they relied on “herd immunity,” bleach, UV light, livestock de-wormer, and other home-grown remedies. Meanwhile, these anti-vaxers kept spreading the virus and contributing to the development of new variants.
19. Trump, unwittingly, is still killing his followers.

Much more information can be found in the referenced links. One especially interesting report was published in The Lancet. Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era assesses the repercussions of Trump’s health-related policies in far greater detail. I encourage you to also read the referenced articles and watch the videos at the end.

Health Misinformation and Disinformation is Endangering Lives Still

According to a recent KFF report, while health misinformation existed long before the pandemic, false and intentionally inaccurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines made things worse, affecting policy debates, public opinion, and choices individuals make. Survey results from 2021 and 2022 found that large shares of the public believe or are uncertain about false claims they’ve heard repeated again and again. The surveys also highlight the role of social media, which tends to spread scandalous lies twice as fast as truth.

Republican Politicians were Complicit in the Trump COVID Deaths

The House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis was established in April 2020. It is still working on a “full and complete investigation and study” of the crisis but has yet to publish its findings. In my view, no report will be complete without publicly exposing the facts listed above, and offering recommendations to better prepare for and handle future public health crises.

Related Articles and Videos

Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era (The Lancet, 2/10/2021) This report by the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era assesses the repercussions of President Donald Trump’s health-related policies.

The inside story of how Trump’s denial, mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic’s dark winter (Washington Post, 12/19/2020) This in-depth article includes many animated or interactive graphics that support, and expand on, my short blog post.

Jared Kushner [and Trump] Suddenly in Legal Jeopardy (15:21 video) Brian Taylor Cohen and Glen Kirshner discuss Jared Kushner and Donald Trump’s legal exposure in the aftermath of reckless COVID mismanagement.

What About Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner? (24:32 video from MSNBC’s Medhi Hasan Show, 6/29/2023) If Republicans are truly worried about members of the first family improperly benefitting from their name, Mehdi says there are two people besides Hunter Biden that they should be looking at the Trump family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wayne Caswell is a retired IBM technologist, futurist, market strategist, consumer advocate, sleep economist, and founding editor of Modern Health Talk. With international leadership experience developing wireless networks, sensors, and smart home technologies, he’s been an advocate for Big Broadband and fiber-to-the-home while also enjoying success lobbying for consumers. Wayne leans left to support progressive policies but considers himself politically independent. (contact & BIO)