Olivia Nuzzi, a New York Magazine reporter recently asked President Trump this question: "If more Americans died in the last six weeks than the entirety of the Vietnam War, do you deserve to be re-elected?" Clearly it was a gotcha question designed to draw attention to the questioner. But, hey, she is writing a book and authors need to sell their wares...
But the premise of the question is not altogether without merit.
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| Vietnam War Memorial Veteran's Park Tupelo, MS |
58,220 Americans were killed during the length of the Vietnam War. You can find all their names inscribed in Vietnam memorial in Washington DC and even in another memorial in Tupelo, Mississippi. As of this writing over 68,000 Americans are reported to have died as a result of the Coronavirus.
Trump kept calm given the incendiary nature of the question, gave his answer and left the podium. But he might have said this...
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| Abraham Lincoln statue Dayton, OH |
"Did Abraham Lincoln deserve to be re-elected in 1864? After all his election in 1860 had helped to precipitate the US Civil War. This conflict proved to be the bloodiest war in American history costing around 750,000 American lives or 15 X more than Vietnam? Remember also that Lincoln was, in the early stages of the war, a somewhat inept Commander in Chief of the Union forces. Bull Run was just one of many Union disasters. But in 1864 the American people chose to re-elect Lincoln in order to win the war, emancipate the slaves and preserve the Union.
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| FDR Statue Grosvenor Square, London |
Did Franklin Delano Roosevelt deserve to be re-elected in 1944? He was running for an unprecedented fourth term in office. He was running during WW2 which began for Americans on December 7, 1941 with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor -- a colossal intelligence blunder by FDR's administration. By the time of the 1944 election hundreds of thousands of Americans had been killed in combat in a conflict that would ultimately claim over 405,000 American lives. But in 1944 the American people chose to re-elect President Roosevelt. They believed that FDR would steer America and the Allies to victory.
In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan China, has claimed over 200,000 lives in the USA and around the world. This devastating pandemic, which was in no way caused by President Trump or any American politician, has brought the world economy to its knees.
In the fall of 2020 it will be the American voting public and not some grandstanding reporter that determines whether of not Trump deserves to be re-elected. The American electorate can be quite forgiving if they believe that a US President is working with integrity in their best interests."
You can find signed copies of our books at these web sites...
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Listen to my interview with Bob Cudmore...http://bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/tracks/ChristopherKelly(August2017)(29)(mp3).mp3
And my interview...www.thebook-club.com/blog/bookshelf-interview-with-christopher-kelly
And my most recent interview...http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/08/17/america-invaded-christopher-kelly
3 comments:
Wasn’t the death toll forecast to be much higher? Doesn’t Trump then deserve to be re-elected for saving 50K, or more, lives? When attempting to give Trump the ‘political finger’ one would think the models have to work both ways.
Interesting question and debate. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts and how closely you think it relates to the events that you listed. I’ve really enjoyed the blog posts that I’ve seen
"The American electorate can be quite forgiving if they believe that a US President is working with integrity in their best interests."
The only interest Trump has in mind is his own. And integrity? We've not had a president with less integrity - even Nixon was better.
If he hadn't ignored all the early warnings, the death toll would have been much lower.
If you still support Trump in view of what is happening here - you are as culpable as him for the deaths of the many thousands who died because of his delays, ignorance and lies.
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