Why Is America Not Holding the COVID Hitman Accountable?

Greg Abbot thinks he can get away with murder because Trump did — At least so far…

Photo by Damir Spanic on Unsplash

Normally when over a half-million people die from something entirely preventable somebody is held accountable. So far, that hasn’t happened in the United States.

In Taiwan, population 24 million, 10 people have died of Covid in the 14 months since the beginning of the pandemic. Ten.

In Vietnam, population 97 million, it’s 35; Thailand, population 70 million, has seen 85 people die, while Australia, at 25 million people, has lost 909 people to the disease.

South Korea, with a population of 51 million, has seen 1634 people die and Canada, with 38 million people has lost 22,000. (Stats here.)

Those countries populations total a bit over 305 million, about the same as the US, and in total they’ve lost 24,663 people to this disease. The United States has lost over 530,000.

That’s a hell of a difference.

In every one of those countries public health officials and senior government leadership (presidents, prime ministers) required or heavily promoted normal pandemic public health measures like wearing masks, avoiding crowded indoor venues and hand-washing.

Here in America, Donald Trump — thinking the virus was a threat to his reelection — told his 70 million followers and the rest of America it was “just like the flu,” “nothing to fear,” “no big deal” and would “miraculously disappear.”

No need for anybody to do anything except go to work and enjoy shopping to keep the stock market cranked up because, he lied, the disease was “totally under control.”

Since Bob Woodward published his book Rage, we know that back in January of last year Trump knew that the coronavirus was “deadly stuff” and at least “five times more deadly” than the flu. He knew this a full year and two months ago. But he lied to you and me, and his followers believed him then and continue to.

So now a half-million-plus Americans are dead. One in more than every 670 Americans.

More Americans have died from the virus that Trump let rage through America — hell…