President Trump's Reckless Disregard for Human Life

It's been 15 days since President Trump declared a national emergency. But he sure isn't acting like there's one.

This has been exemplified by his refusal to furnish New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with 30,000 ventilators. On Thursday, Trump told Sean Hannity:

I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You go into major hospitals sometimes, and they’ll have two ventilators. And now, all of a sudden, they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'

An aghast Cuomo told CNN:

The hospitals don't need them yet. The hospitals aren't at their apex. The hospitals have enough ventilators today. But the numbers are going up. So the point is, 'They're in a stockpile, you must not need them' is just ignorant. Of course you don't need them today. You need them when you hit the apex, which is 30,000. We're not there yet.

This is what is known to reasonable people as planning and preparation. But Trump is not a reasonable person.

While Trump has since agreed to have the federal government purchase more ventilators it remains to be seen if New York and other states will get them in time to handle a surge of cases. As it stands now, New York is sharing ventilators between patients.

Either this is a national emergency or this isn't. If President Trump agrees that we are in a national emergency then he must cease telling Vice-President Pence to not speak with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Washington Governor Jay Inslee because they are not "appreciative" of him.

A national emergency means we are all in this together. If President Trump is going to dole out emergency aid based on who worships at his altar then people are going to die who did not have to die. Trump's cruelty and pettiness display a reckless disregard for human life. A man who displays such disregard for human life should not be given another term in the White House much less remain in office for another day.