Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
Sept. 17, 2020
By Joni Ashbrook
America is facing many crises. Unfortunately, President Donald Trump and his GOP enablers aren’t leading us out of them, but they could cause more.
Johns Hopkins ranks the U.S. seventh globally in COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population. They show about 59 American deaths per 100,000.
There are 46 countries with under one death per 100,000. Those countries include Cuba, Syria, Ethiopia, South Korea, China, Singapore and New Zealand. Canada’s death count is about 25 per 100,000.
Many U.S. deaths can be attributed directly to Trump and GOP leaders like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who followed Trump down his unscientific rabbit hole.
That astonishing number of U.S. deaths isn’t surprising since Trump has been lying to us about the virus from the beginning.
In February, during a taped interview with journalist Bob Woodward, Trump admitted he played down the virus after telling Woodward earlier the virus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flu,” and that it also affects “plenty of young people.”
Yet Trump has repeatedly told Americans the exact opposite.
As the U.S. nears 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, Politico reported crucial modeling by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. It projected our death toll to be around 408,000 by Dec. 31, but if a national mask mandate were in place, it could be limited to 286,000. Trump refuses to do that.
It’s a tale of two economies. Trump thinks the stock market is the economy and doesn’t acknowledge struggling Americans.
While people lost jobs, homes, health insurance and their businesses, U.S. billionaires got $637 billion richer.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said “Hell no” to any more help to desperate Americans because he and other Republicans worry about the debt.
But Republicans didn’t worry about the debt when they funneled $2 trillion mainly to corporations and the wealthy with their tax cuts.
Other countries’ economies are recovering much faster than ours because they’ve contained the virus. Without a vaccine, our major tools to save lives and help our economy recover is wearing masks and social distancing.
According to an analysis by Goldman Sachs economists, a national mask mandate would salvage about $1 trillion of economic activity, but Trump is still holding rallies with maskless crowds huddled close together.
Trump has reversed many policies addressing climate change and created some that will speed up the demise of our planet.
Our president finally acknowledged the apocalyptic wildfires on the West Coast, but claims not sweeping the forest floor is their cause.
Trump’s anti-science, fossil-fuel supported platform won’t allow him to say that extreme heat and drought from climate change caused the fires.
Trump, Attorney General William Barr and GOP lawmakers like Texas Sen. John Cornyn don’t believe systemic racism exists in America. So if you don’t acknowledge a problem, you can’t solve it.
Trump vows that if he’s reelected, he’ll make his payroll tax cut permanent. The program’s chief actuary warns if payroll taxes were “eliminated” the Social Security retirement trust fund would run dry in 2023.
Trump and the GOP aren’t helping more Americans get health care during the pandemic. Instead, they’re suing to kill the Affordable Care Act, which would end coverage for more than 20 million people and remove protections for those with preexisting conditions.
Joe Biden will address structural racism and order a national mask mandate. Biden vows to bring good paying jobs to all communities by manufacturing electric vehicles and rebuilding sustainably. Biden also proposes a public option for people to buy into Medicare, and he’ll protect Social Security. Vote!
