Trump’s regime has presided over more than a quarter of a million preventable American deaths. But how many exactly – or at least to the nearest hundred thousand?
An article published in Australia today begins the quantification. It starts with firearm deaths, drawing a link between Trump’s public calls for more physical attacks against political opponents and the verified increase in gun violence. It then looks at other causes of preventable deaths.
It shows mortality is far worse in states Trump won in the presidential election. The article notes that the states:
“which have most avidly supported soon-to-be-ex-President Donald Trump have paid a heavy price for their fealty. Deaths from suicide, gun violence and the COVID-19 pandemic have been much higher there than where Trump’s toxic authority has been rejected.”
Gun violence
The article analysed figures for firearm violence from Gun Violence Archive and elsewhere. Virtually all categories have increased significantly through the Trump presidency.
Total deaths by gun violence – willful, malicious and accidental – are up 8.6 per cent in 2020 over 2016. Gun injuries are up 11.2 per cent. Teenagers killed or injured are up 11.2 per cent.
Mass shooting incidents in 2020 have increased by a staggering 45.8 per cent since 2016 – up from 382 to 557. That’s just to 11th November. The year is not yet over. (The definition of a mass shooting in this database is an incident with four or more people killed or wounded, a broader definition than some.)
Violence by political affiliation
The 50 U.S. states can readily be divided into those which voted for Trump in the 3 November Presidential Election and those which supported President-elect Joe Biden. There were 25 of each.
The latest data from the Centre for Disease Control for 2018 shows Trump-supporting states had much higher rates of firearm deaths. Biden states overall recorded 9.9 deaths per 100,000 population. The Trump states recorded 15.1. The highest six states all went for Trump, as did 14 out of the worst-hit 16. See graph, at the top of this article.
But wait. It gets worse. We can divide the 50 states more precisely into three categories – strong Trump voters – those which gave Trump 54 per cent of the vote or more – and strong Biden voters – those which gave Biden 54 per cent of the vote or more – and the swing states – which voted for the winner by less than 54 per cent. There are 20 strong Trump states, 12 swing states and 18 strong Biden states.
The strong Biden states recorded 8.4 deaths per 100,000. The swing states recorded 13.1.The strong Trump states recorded 17.4 – more than double the strong Biden states.
Total firearm deaths and injuries, excluding suicides, in 2020 — so far — are 50,987, which is up 11.4 per cent on 45,766 in 2016.
The four-year increase
Gun violence deaths, excluding suicides, were 583 higher in 2017 than in 2016, 270 lower in 2018, 306 higher in 2019 and 1,468 higher in 2020 — so far.
Thus our working total of avoidable deaths from firearms, so far, under Trump is 2,087.
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The original article is accessible here for free:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/trumps-republican-death-cult-soon-to-lose-office,14519