Every year it is estimated that at least 250,000 America deaths are due to medical error, which represents 10% of all U.S. deaths, making it the third leading cause of death in our country (John Hopkins University).
This is a staggering number when you consider over the past few years, we have averaged approximately 20,000 deaths due to homicide-related crimes (CDC). Considering these numbers, some may pose the question “Does every medical professional associated with those patients have “blood on their hands?”
The phrase “blood on their hands,” is one of the most serious accusations we can level at a person. The term itself indicates malicious intent, purposely acting with indifference toward another life. Like traitor, racist, or evil, “blood on their hands” should not be used with such triviality, or from a position of bias toward the individual or individuals involved.
But as with all the aforementioned words, the phrase “blood on their hands,” is callously thrown about, nothing more than another political attack phrase. Our casual misuse of each of these words, especially “blood on their hands,” weakens their purpose and makes them nothing more than an incendiary insult uttered from the mind of a callous person.
Yet, some in the news media and many on social media have accused President Trump of having “blood on his hands” due to his handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This is the most absurd fallacy, and just another indication of how polluted our national news media has become and how divisive our political system truly is. And over in the corner hoping to benefit from this charade is the Democratic Party. What impeachment couldn’t achieve some in the Democratic leadership hoped COVID-19 would accomplish, ending Trump’s presidency.
A casual look at the timeline is a clear indication Trump was damned if he did, and damned if he didn’t (https://tinyurl.com/timelinecovid19). This pandemic and our collective response were politicized from the beginning. It is disgusting the revisionist history already being applied to this pandemic. The media and politicians such a Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are banking on the fact many Americans will forget the Democrats’ and media’s missteps, misreporting, and blatant biases regarding this pandemic. If we allow this to happen, we are giving them carte blanche to do the same thing to us in the future.
We came out of the gate with fear and panic, then we started the fingering pointing. Trump is not without fault, and his communication style did not help the situation. But to say Trump has blood on his hands is nothing more than politicians trying to scapegoat the president, hoping their constituents do not take a long look at these politicians’ own failings and mishandling of this pandemic.
For those that want to accuse public officials such as Trump of murder for every COVID-19 death that might have been prevented, then is it not fair game to accuse blue state governors and Democratic mayors (and city councils) of having “blood on their hands” as well?
Why do governors such as Cuomo (New York), Baker (Massachusetts), Murphy (New Jersey), Lamont (Connecticut), and Newsom (California) not have “blood on their hands?” Those states account for more than 50% of the deaths that have been attributed to COVID-19, and some of the highest percentages of deaths per 100,000 population. Yet some in the news media have whitewashed the failures in these states or ignored the facts of mismanagement and blatant abuses of power forced upon their citizens. But their last names aren’t Trump, so I guess there is “nothing to see here folks.
The truth is at least 90% of what has to be done in response to an emergency situation such as a pandemic needs to come from the state.
The fact is every state has a health and human services department. Every state has its form of a “homeland security” team. Every state has an emergency response plan for civic unrest, weather-related incidents, and pandemics.
And unlike the 68-page PowerPoint Biden tried to pass off as a “pandemic playbook” created under the Obama administration, the state plans actually provide step-by-step details of agency responsibilities, personnel requirements, equipment requirements and inventory needs in preparation for any emergency situation that may occur.
Many states were ill-prepared for this pandemic (or any emergency for that matter), and instead of accepting their failures and taking responsibility for their inaction and ill preparedness, they did what most politicians do and blamed someone else. Trump became the easy scapegoat because these same politicians found a willing ally for this fallacy with far too many in our media.
There were many failures at so many levels, including with each of us. As the timeline indicates, too many in the media and in politics spent valuable time bashing Trump. But one must ignore an awful lot or place a false faith in institutions such as our political parties and biased media to believe Trump has “blood on his hands.”
In the end, we do a disservice to ourselves and our nation when we allow people to be falsely accused of having “blood on their hands.” You don’t have to like Trump, nor do you have to vote for him, but don’t be duped into believing Trump is solely responsible for the chaos that has torn this country apart these past six months. That list is very long, but some would rather gaslight you and me in fear that we may take a good, long look at their own misdeeds.
