We all know that Trump tells lies.
But what is curious is that Trump tells certain lies that his followers are more likely to believe--consequently setting them up for serious health hazards that can sometimes result in death.
Trump is also behind disbanding certain parts of the social safety net that are likely to negatively impact the health and well being of many of his working class and/ or retired supporters.
We now know that Trump deliberately underplayed how lethal COVID-19 is--putting many of his followers (especially the ones who refuse to wear masks and to practice social distancing) at risk of getting the virus and possibly dying.
Trump’s administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to “overturn the Affordable Care Act,” which would leave as many as 23 million Americans without health insurance in the middle of a pandemic--with no plan in place to replace the ACA. Many blue-collar white people (the very people who make up much of Trump’s base) benefit from the ACA. In addition, many of the people the ACA covers live in Red states.
Despite the fact that “white supremacist extremists....pose the most persistent and lethal threat” to the US, Trump has turned Antifa (the loosely organized group of anti-fascist activists) into such a bogeyman that Trump supporters in Oregon are risking serious injury or death by avoiding evacuating areas ravaged by wildfires because they believe untrue rumors that the fires are being set by Antifa in order to loot towns.
Trump has pledged to terminate the payroll tax if he is re-elected. That would effectively bankrupt Social Security and Medicare. If that happens, many seniors, including many Trump supporters (43% of seniors still support him), will undoubtedly die prematurely.
The Trump administration’s proposed changes to SNAP would have left nearly a million Americans hungry during the pandemic. Food insecurity certainly affects health and well being. The Trump administration is still fighting the court order that halted the changes to the program. Many white Americans without college degrees (a big part of Trump’s base) benefit from SNAP and other safety net programs.
So you have to ask, why is Trump deliberately saying and doing things that could literally lead to the premature deaths of many of his followers?
What is he thinking when he looks out at a crowd of maskless supporters packed together at his rallies, knowing full well that some of them will die because of his lies?
And why are so many of these same people willing to put their health and lives on the line (as well as the health and lives of their loved ones) to vote for someone who is doing this to them?
photo source (w/out caption): Doug Mills/The New York Times
