Be Glad Trump Is Not President

 

As bad as things are right now, at least we can be glad that Donald Trump is not president. So far, 993,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, by far the most of any country. Several other nations have passed us in deaths per 1 million population (many of them in Eastern Europe), but when compared with countries that took the pandemic seriously from the start, it can be argued that we have experienced hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. Our death rate is currently 2,971 per million population. By contrast, South Korea’s rate is 198 per million. If we had matched South Korea’s response to the pandemic, we would have suffered just over 66,000 deaths. If we had matched Taiwan’s response, we would have had just over 12,000 deaths. And if we had matched New Zealand’s response, we would have had 6,350 deaths. Obviously, our response to the pandemic has been abysmal, but imagine how much worse it would be if Trump had prevailed in the election. His inept administration would certainly have floundered in getting the vaccines into people’s arms. And there would have been no encouragement from the top for masking and other safety precautions. No telling how staggering our numbers would have been. As it is, the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers have done a great job anyway in promoting the health and well-being of the virus, rather than the health of themselves and their fellow Americans.

But now we have even greater cause to be relieved that Trump lost the election. Can we even imagine how a Trump presidency would have responded to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? Well, yes, we can. Trump has never had any empathy for suffering. His only concern has always been how events would affect himself. And Trump has always had Putin-envy. No matter what Putin has done, Trump has been not just fawning but openly jealous. Who can forget Trump’s obviously envious claim that Putin’s move on Ukraine was “genius.” Not immoral, not brutal, not criminal, not dishonest, not appalling, not tragic, but genius. Trump sees the world only through the lens of what the strong and the corrupt can take by force or by deceit.

And Ukraine has never been a country Trump has considered in any light except how it could help him win an election. Who can forget his “perfect” phone call, in which he extorted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to produce dirt on his perceived political rival? His attempt to use Ukraine for his own ends earned him an impeachment. Why would anyone think Trump would not remember this if he were in the Oval Office now? Would he be slapping severe sanctions on Russia for doing something he finds admirable? Would he be able to orchestrate a strong response not just among NATO nations but even among traditionally neutral nations? Fat chance.

Trump spent most of his presidency trying to alienate our allies and weaken NATO. He was Putin’s puppet in Washington. Would Trump have any standing among our allies to lead a swift and crippling economic response to Putin’s horrendous invasion of an independent nation? Certainly not. Would Trump have dared to cut off imports of Russian oil? Not if it would have caused inflated prices at the pump that might reflect poorly on his presidency. Thank goodness we have a president who cares about doing what’s right instead of doing what’s expedient or self-serving. President Biden is certainly not perfect, but at least he is not Trump.