“Trump’s role in the death toll.”

Commentary

With Trump’s plan to “reopen” the economy on May 1, despite the warnings of his medical/scientific advisors, have we reached “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda?”

It’s Easter Monday. I hope you all had a good holiday, participating in virtual religious services this weekend, virtual Seders last week and whatever else you did as best you could given this Covid-19 disruption of all our lives.

Well, the weekend is over and this morning I awoke to a flurry of articles and opinion pieces, mostly in the New York Times and The Washington Post (you might better know them as the “fake news” or “Trump-hating LSM {Lame Stream Media}) detailing the lies, the denials, the delays in action, and then, the wrong actions, taken by Trump and his administration before and during this crisis.

Why are these articles important to read now? Because in his infinite wisdom, Donald Trump is suggesting that he is considering a “re-opening” of the economy on May 1; a re-opening contrary to, and despite the advice of, the scientists and medical professionals who are supposed to be advising him. Remember, dear readers…May 1 is only two weeks away.

Why now? Because Trump is still arrogantly defending his incompetence, even retweeting “Time to #FireFauci:”

Why now? Because, incredibly, he still has followers defending his incompetence:

David Leonhardt, opinion writer for the Times in his daily email column pulled no punches with his subject line, “Trump’s role in the death toll.”

Leonhardt begins his comments with this:

“The United States and South Korea each had their first confirmed case of the coronavirus around Jan. 20. They each suffered their first death in late February. If anything, South Korea appeared to be slightly ahead of the United States, with more cases and more deaths, in early March.

“But then the two countries began following very different paths.“

In his piece he includes this chart that shows the number of new deaths each day for the two countries, adjusted for the population of each:

Shocking, isn’t it, when you not just see the numbers, but see a visualization of the numbers.

Here’s a PDF of Leonhardt’s email:

In his email, Leonhardt references a long article published in the Times over the weekend documenting the many warnings that he received throughout late January, February and much of March, about the likely severity of the virus and the need to take action. (The link to the article is above, the PDF here):

Not to be outdone by its rival, The Washington Post also had some highly critical, but extremely revealing articles about how Trump and his gang have botched the response to coronavirus pandemic. One example, James Hohmann’s Daily 202, “South Korea, a coronavirus success story, warns against easing social distancing guidelines too soon:”

For those readers who know and talk to people who voted for Trump, know and talk to people who still think Trump is doing a “great job,” know and talk to people who still intend to vote for Trump, please pass this column and the referenced articles on. I know they won’t believe any of it. But, at least, you’ll be doing the right thing.

Let me close with this:

Some of you are old enough to remember the late, great sportscaster, Win Elliot. Elliot, often used a catchphrase, “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda,” particularly when bemoaning a favorite team’s ignominious loss (generally hockey’s New York Rangers, who, back in the day, had plenty of ignominious losses). So, in tribute to Mr. Elliot:

“Woulda been different different if not for Russian interference.”

“Coulda been different if not for James Comey’s October 28, 2016 letter.”

“Shoulda been different if not for ‘Clinton hubris.'”