Who has killed the most Americans? Some serial killers have murdered up to 100, almost all intentionally.
In addition to intentional killing, acts demonstrating reckless indifference to human life are also considered to provide the intent for murder, usually “second degree”. Typically, we do not criticize politicians for this because they don’t intend to kill people, they do care about human lives and they have some apparent policy reason for their actions. Thus, even though President George W. Bush launched the Iraq War based on lies, leading to an estimated 4,431 American military deaths, most of us would not consider this murder because it made some sense, at least at the time, Bush did seem to care about preserving human life and he seemed to try to make rational decisions.
However, Donald Trump, described by historians as the worst American President, repeatedly shows no concern for human life other than his own and makes irrational decisions regularly (i.e. without any justifiable reasons). As a result, many of his most prominent appointees are campaigning against him.
COVID-19 deaths
I estimate that at least 200,000 of the total 1.2 million American COVID-19 deaths (as of April 2024) were due to Trump’s lies and inaction about COVID-19, regarding masks and vaccines. I am not aware of any studies discussing this in detail, but we do know:
Trump’s early announcements about voluntary mask use led to thousands of deaths. Instead of showing leadership and following the advice of public health experts, he said: “It is going to be a voluntary thing. You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I am choosing not to do it.” He knew or should have known that tens of millions would follow his example and not wear masks, increasing their risk of death.
The Trump administration has demonstrated repeated incompetence in its handling of this crisis.
Trump supporters died of COVID-19 at a far higher rate than Biden supporters: “Those living in counties that voted 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.26 times the death rate of those that went by the same margin for Biden.” A Yale study indicated that Republicans' excess death rate spiked after COVID-19 vaccines arrived. These results are presumed due to differences in behavior based on what their political leader was advocating. If Trump supporters followed the behavior of Biden supporters, hundreds of thousands fewer of them would have likely died.
Other deaths due to nonsensical policies
Trump caused and continues to cause, other deaths but these are much smaller in magnitude:
Deaths from the January 6, 2021 insurrection totaled 6-10 individuals (variation due to whether or not to count those who died after the attack).
Deaths due to Trump’s FEMA related lies are harder to assess, but it is likely that more people than normal ignored FEMA warnings or refused FEMA aid due to Trump’s lies, leading to unnecessary deaths. The deaths have not been totaled in any studies yet, but this is probably also less than 100 individuals.
There are also deaths due to Trump’s repeated statements of hatred and bigotry against almost all groups other than White males. Trump supporters expressed more racially dehumanizing beliefs toward Black people after the 2016 presidential election and hate crimes increased under the Trump administration. Trump’s hateful rhetoric does appear to make a difference.
Per Robert Reich, “Hate is the single most powerful emotion Trump elicits from his followers. Hate fuels his candidacy. Hate gives Trump’s entire MAGA movement its purpose and meaning.” This hate also leads to deaths. To date, we have not seen major rioting, but this should be anticipated if Trump becomes President again.
Due to Trump’s COVID-19 lies and indifference, Trump should be remembered as one of America’s greatest killers. If he returns to power, we can anticipate that his mishandling of another crisis will similarly lead to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. His repeated statements and actions of hatred will also lead to unnecessary deaths.
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