Budowsky: Trump’s COVID-19 death toll dominates election

The No. 1 issue in the presidential, House and Senate elections is the death toll caused by the disastrous actions of President Trump from January until today — which have allowed the deadly COVID-19 disease to create a national nightmare for the health and safety of the American people.

The No. 2 issue in the presidential, House and Senate elections is the catastrophic economic damage to American workers, American consumers, American women, American men, American children, American families and the American economy — caused by the catastrophic disaster of Trump’s actions that allowed the deadly COVID-19 virus to spread throughout red, blue and purple states alike.

If the COVID-19 virus could vote, it would vote for Trump.

Those who dread and want to destroy COVID-19 can vote, and will — including Republican groups of alumni of the President Bush 43 presidency, members of the Lincoln Project, and alumni of the campaigns and Senate staff of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), including Cindy McCain, who are voting and campaigning for former Vice President Joe Biden.

As of today, more than 220,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. Leading medical authorities — including many slandered by Trump as “these idiots” — have warned that the death toll from COVID-19 could rise above 400,000 by early next year.

With the third wave of COVID-19 infections skyrocketing throughout Europe and the U.S., and with intensive care units in hospitals in red and blue states alike now facing enormous stress, I predict leading medical authorities will soon warn that the death toll from COVID-19 could rise to between a half million Americans and potentially 600,000 Americans by Easter Sunday.

This is why Trump’s COVID-19 death toll is dominating the 2020 campaign. It can be prevented. It must be prevented. It will be prevented if voters elect Joe Biden as president and Democrats to control the Senate and House to give full support to his plans to defeat COVID, and provide full financial support to all Americans suffering from the virus infected economy.

It is incredible, and politically insane, that with Americans deeply worried about the COVID-19 virus that is rapidly spreading again the national news, almost every day and night, shows Trump personally attacking national respected medical authorities such as Dr. Anthony Fauci.

It is incredible, and politically destructive to Trump and Republicans in the Senate and House, that alongside news updates of rising COVID-19 casualties are videos of Trump speaking to rallies with packed crowds shouting cult-like chants, without masks, without social distancing, spreading the danger of disease to each other and their neighbors in red and blue states that are already COVID-19 hot spots.

It is incredible, and politically self-destructive, that Trump’s closing argument in the campaign seems to be about Russian-supplied propaganda about Ukraine. And which former Democratic president and presidential nominees he wants to prosecute and incarcerate. And which extremist groups he refuses to condemn while there are violent plots against the governor of Michigan and threats against Anthony Fauci, the world’s leading expert on infectious diseases. And how he turns opposition to masks and social distancing — which leading experts believe are extremely helpful and urgently needed — into partisan political issues.

Many COVID-19 deaths since January, when Trump was first warned by senior advisers that this virus could be as catastrophic as the mass death that began in 1918, were preventable deaths. They would have been prevented if Joe Biden were president and Democrats controlled the House and Senate.

The economic disaster that has imposed cruel pain on the American economy from COVID-19 since January, was preventable economic disaster. It would have been prevented if Joe Biden were president and Democrats controlled the House and Senate.

The ghoulish warnings about future COVID-19 deaths that could be coming next, and the continuing catastrophic damage to our economy that would result, can be prevented by electing Biden and Democrats to control the Senate and House on Nov. 3.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.