Trump vs. Biden on Covid

Trump vs. Biden on Covid

By Gary F. Zeolla

Who has done a better job on the Coronavirus (aka COVID-19 or just Covid) in the USA? Former President Donald J. Trump or current President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.? This article will seek to answer this question.

Notes:
This article was written in three stages. The first two sections were written December 17, 2021. The third section was written January 5, 2022. The fourth and fifth sections were added January 19-21, 2022. The Conclusion was updated January 21, 2022. Also, at end of this article is an extensive list of references documenting all of numbers and other claims in this article.

2020 vs. 2021

President Trump was vilified by the media, by Democrats, and even by Joe Biden for his supposed lack of seriousness about Covid. It was said that the USA had such higher numbers than other countries due to Trump’s incompetence in handling Covid. Biden even said during a debate that if it were not for such, “all the people would be alive” putting the blame for all Covid deaths at that time on Trump. Many people who voted for Biden did so primarily because they thought he would do a better job at dealing with Covid than Trump. But has that proven to be the case?

There were 352,000 Covid deaths in the USA in 2020. We reached 353,00 Covid deaths in the USA in 2021 on October 6, 2021 (Forbes. U.S. Covid-19; Washington Infomen). But of course, Trump continued to be President for another 20 days after the end of 2020. By January 20, 2021, the USA was at 408,000 deaths from Covid due to the winter surge occurring at that time.

As of November 13, 2021, there were 761,354 Covid deaths in the USA. Doing the quick subtraction, that means as of that date, there have been 353,354 Covid deaths under Biden. But Biden still has over two months left to go in his first year in office. By January 20, 2022, the total number of deaths will surely reach over 816,000, which will mean, more Americans will have died from Covid under the first year of Biden than under the year Trump dealt with the pandemic. That despite the fact that Biden had three vaccines during the entire time he has been President, while the vaccines just began to roll out under Trump (thanks to Trump’s Operation Warp Speed).

Covid antivaxxers will claim this pattern shows the vaccines are not effective. But in reality, the majority of those deaths under Biden are of the unvaccinated. And I blame Biden, at least in part, for the vaccine hesitancy that has caused so many Americans to resist getting the vaccine and to suffer and die needlessly. I will detail why I say that later.

Trump issued a statement about this development on December 6, 2021:

Biden said that he was going to “beat the virus,” but instead, the virus has beaten him—and badly. Far more people died this year than last, despite tremendous help from vaccines and therapeutics developed under “Trump.” He said anybody with his results should leave office. Well Joe, what are you waiting for!

Note: Some authorities claim there were 385,000 Covid deaths in the USA in 2020. Using that figure, it was not until November 21 that we surpassed that number of deaths in 2021 (Postmillennial. Biden). Either way, it will still most certainly hold true that more Americans will have died of Covid under Biden that under Trump.

800,000 Covid Deaths in the USA

On December 14, 2021, America passed 800,000 Covid deaths and almost 50 million cases (Market Watch. U.S. edges). That is a 1.6% case fatality rate. That is the same death rate as I calculated for my two-part article Statistical Refutations of Covid Deniers and Antivaxxers.

Biden held solemn outdoor ceremonies after each of the Covid milestones in 2020, for100k deaths, then again for 200k, 300k, and 400k deaths, complete with candlelight brown bags representing the dead. The last commemoration was the day before he was inaugurated, on January 19, 2021. Biden could blame all of those deaths on Trump, so he wanted to make as big of a deal about them as possible. But then strangely, once he took office, and we continued to hit those grim 100k milestones, Biden began to acknowledge them less and less.

He recognized 500k on February 22 with a sobering press appearance and a couple of tweets, but that was just a little over a month after he took office. But after he had been in office for almost five months, he just tweeted once about 600k on June 15. Then 700k was acknowledged on October 2 with a tweet and a written statement to the press. Then he did not even mention 800k on December 14, 2021; that is, until a reporter asked him about it. But it was coupled with a question about the origins of Covid and if he would hold China responsible. Biden laughed and walked away. That was it. A laugh and a walkway (Newsmax. Greg). Later, he tweeted about it.

Biden probably does not want to recognize this latest grim milestone, as it shows he has been a total failure when it comes to Covid. He promised to “shut down the virus,” but has failed to do so. That was in part due to the vaccine hesitancy he has continually created. This death statistic means Biden is well on his way to having more die of Covid under his watch than did under Trump’s watch.

But to be fair, no one could have “shut down the virus.” The virus would do what the virus would do. But Biden’s arrogance and efforts to paint Trump as incompetent on Covid led him to make such grandiose promises that he should have known he could not keep.

The tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. was headed toward 50 million on Monday [12/13/21], and the number of deaths was close to 800,000, as New Yorkers kicked off the week with a new face mask mandate for all indoor public places….

The U.S. is still averaging more than 120,000 new cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, and more than 1,200 deaths. And while those numbers are well below the levels seen during the summer months — and the peak last winter — they are rising at an undesirably fast rate, especially in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions (Market Watch. U.S. edges).

The U.S. death toll from covid-19 topped 800,000 on Tuesday [12/14/21], a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic, given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after the vaccine became available practically for the asking last spring….

The United States has the highest reported toll of any country. The U.S. accounts for approximately 4% of the world’s population but about 15% of the 5.3 million known deaths from the coronavirus since the outbreak began in China two years ago.

The true death toll in the U.S. and around the world is believed to significantly higher because of cases that were overlooked or concealed….

“Almost all the people dying are now dying preventable deaths,” said Dr. Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “And that’s because they’re not immunized. And you know that, God, it’s a terrible tragedy” (Trib Live/ AP. U.S. covid).

Trump vs. Biden Revisited

I predicted above that Biden would see more Covid deaths during his first year in office than Trump did during the year he dealt with Covid. With 825,000 Covid deaths as of January 1, 2022, that prediction has now come true. I document above that there were 408,000 Covid deaths under Trump. Subtracting that number from 825,000 means there have been 817,000 Covid deaths under Biden.

Now, some will say Trump did not deal with Covid for a full year, as it did not begin to surge here in the USA until March 2020. That means Trump only dealt with it for ten months, while Biden has now been in office almost 12 months. However, the first Covid case was identified here in the USA in January 2020. The reason it did not surge until March of that year was because of Trump’s travel ban against China in January and then later against Europe. If it were not for those timely and much criticized actions by Trump, the virus would have already been surging in February 2020. Thus, Trump death Covid for a full year, just as Biden has.

But it was Biden who during the campaign promised to “shut down the virus.” Then on Independence Day 2021, he declared our “independence” from the virus. That declaration proved to be his “Mission Accomplished” moment. I say that because as many Americans have died under his watch since then as before then, about 211,000 before July 4 and the same since then as of January 5, but as counting since then, as Omicron surges.

End of Biden’s First Year

Joe Biden was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2021. The day before, he And held a solemn outdoor commemorative ceremony about the USA passing the grim milestone of 400,000 deaths from Covid. At that time, he was blaming President Trump for all of the Covid deaths.

Here we are, one year later, January 19, 2022, and NBC Radio News announced this morning that we stand at 858,000 Covid deaths. That means, 458,000 Americans have died from Covid under Biden, or 58,000 more than died under Trump. I think Biden owes Trump an apology, as does every Democrat and newscaster who vilified Trump’s Covid response.

… Americans are not better off today than they were a year ago. Over 450,000 of our countrymen and women have died from COVID-19 on Joe Biden’s watch, and on Wednesday [1/19/22] the president continued to cause confusion about vaccines and boosters. The president characterized the COVID-19 pandemic as a job not yet finished, but millions of Americans think the situation has become worse since last year – and they’re not wrong (Fox News. Biden has no).

Numbers Notes:

The slight difference in the death count in this section under Trump versus the previous section (400k vs. 408k) is probably due to different sources for the numbers or even the exact time the numbers were reported. Those sources are found in the References at the end of this article. But whatever the exact numbers, at least 50,000 more Americans have died from Covid under Biden than under Trump.

But in no way were there 500k Covid deaths under Trump, as someone on social media claimed. As noted above, we did not reach that number until February 22, 2021, over a month after Trump left office. And it wasn’t even 425k, as someone else claimed. Multiple sources put the number at 400-408k, but none put it higher.

Deaths Under Biden are Biden’s Responsibility

Some Biden defenders try to blame Trump for the Covid deaths under Biden. Their claim is Trump caused vaccine hesitancy among his supporters, and that is why so many have died under Biden.

But that reasoning fails on several levels. First, “Black and Hispanic people have been less likely than their White counterparts to receive a vaccine” (KFF. Latest). Even though Trump garnered a higher percentage of minority votes than any previous GOP presidential candidate in 2020, as I document in my book Alleged Corruption, Bias, and Fraud, still, the majority of minority voters are not Trump supporters. They are Biden supporters.

Second, it was Trump’s Operation Warp Speed that gave us the vaccines. His Coronavirus Task Force also had in place plans to distribute 200-250 million doses of those vaccines by the end of April 2021. Biden can lie as he wants about there not being a plan in place for the distribution of the vaccines, but multiple members of Trump’s Task Force have verified that such a plan was in place. The best Biden can claim is that he did not screw up Trump's plan.

However, only one occasion did Biden credit Trump with the vaccine development, and he has never given credit to Trump for the initial distribution plans, instead, taking all of the credit to himself. As such, maybe, just maybe, if Biden had given more credit to Trump, there would not be so much vaccine hesitancy among Trump supporters.

Third, Trump has touted that vaccine development, has publicly announced he is fully vaccinated and even boosted, and has encouraged those who are not vaccinated to get vaccinated. He was even critical of the CDC when it paused the J&J vaccine in April of 2021, lamenting that such an action would create vaccine hesitancy.

Last spring, the CDC was quick to investigate and report on rare but concerning side effects in some vaccine recipients, including an unusual blood clot in young women who had received Johnson & Johnson shots. The identification of about 15 cases — out of more than 8 million people who had gotten the vaccine — led the government to pause the dispensing of J&J shots for 11 days (Trib Live/ AP. Aiming).

Trump issued the following statement about this pause on April 13, 2021:

      The Biden Administration did a terrible disservice to people throughout the world by allowing the FDA and CDC to call a “pause” in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The results of this vaccine have been extraordinary but now it’s reputation will be permanently challenged. The people who have already taken the vaccine will be up in arms, and perhaps all of this was done for politics or perhaps it’s the FDA’s love for Pfizer.

      The FDA, especially with long time bureaucrats within, has to be controlled. They should not be able to do such damage for possibly political reasons, or maybe because their friends at Pfizer have suggested it. They’ll do things like this to make themselves look important.

      Remember, it was the FDA working with Pfizer, who announced the vaccine approval two days after the 2020 Presidential Election. They didn’t like me very much because I pushed them extremely hard. But if I didn’t, you wouldn’t have a vaccine for 3-5 years, or maybe not at all. It takes them years to act!

      Do your testing, clean up the record, and get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine back online quickly. The only way we defeat the China Virus is with our great vaccines!

Trump was rightly upset Pfizer waited until right after the 2020 election to announce their vaccine was ready. If they had accounted a week earlier that Trump’ Operation Warp Speed was a success and the vaccine was available, the election results might have been different, as I report in my Corruption book. However, despite that snub by the Pfizer company, Trump has never said a word against the vaccines themselves that would cause vaccine hesitancy. He has instead touted then at every opportunity, as seen the last sentence of the preceding statement. But that unnecessary pause of the J&J vaccine by Biden’s CDC created vaccine hesitancy.

Fourth, Biden also caused vaccine hesitancy by his continual mask wearing despite being fully vaccinated and now even boosted. His every appearance with a mask screams, “The vaccines don’t work!” That was especially the case during his speech to a joint session of Congress on April 28, 2021. He was not wearing a mask, but Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi sitting behind him were, as were all of those in attendance. And the House chamber was only one-third full.

Given that all members of Congress, Biden, Harris, and Pelosi are all vaccinated, this was all show. There was no reason for the masks, the social distancing, nor the less than capacity crowd. But the display was a major signal to the unvaccinated that the vaccines do not work, increasing vaccine hesitancy.

What struck me most about His Fraudulency Joe Biden’s Wednesday night address to congress was how it seemed as though the entire federal government had gathered to stage a nationally-televised piece of performance art with one blaring message: The coronavirus vaccine does not work! Do not get vaccinated! Look at us! LOOK AT US, we’re vaccinated and nothing’s changed!!!...

The vaccine is effective the vaccinated say while they double mask.

The vaccine works the vaccinated say from an empty congressional chamber.

The vaccine will get us out of this the vaccinated say as they social distance.

It’s like having someone tell you the local water is safe in-between sips of bottled water.

Are we being lied to about how effective the vaccine is? Well, based on their own behavior, the federal government sure seems to believe that....

What I believe is this… The best way out of this is herd immunity and the best way to achieve herd immunity is having as many Americans vaccinated as possible. Well, that’s just not going to happen with the government behaving this way.

Bottom line: Biden’s Wednesday night’s speech was the Super Bowl of commercials promoting “vaccine hesitancy.” (Breitbart. Nolte; italics and bolding in original).

It should be noted, at this time, the CDC was saying those who are vaccinated did not need to wear a mask. But, as a result of Delta, that advice later changed. But in the intervening two months of May and June, many more Americans might have gotten vaccinated without this vaccine-hesitancy creating event, and the Delta wave would have been blunted.

For much of the pandemic, the CDC had advised Americans to wear masks when near others. But last spring, [CDC Director Dr. Rochelle] Walensky changed the guidance, saying fully vaccinated people could stop covering up in most settings. Walensky said the decision was driven by rising vaccination numbers and declines in covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Her call was characterized as a sensible incentive to get more people vaccinated (Trib Live/ AP. Aiming).

But Biden blunted that effect of this guidance with this event and his continual mask wearing.

Fifth, with Biden, it has been all vaccines and masks, while ignoring all of the other steps people can take to protect themselves from serious consequences from a Covid infection. That myopic focus has led to many needless deaths beyond just the lives that could have been saved by the unvaccinated getting vaccinated. I detail those other steps throughout my Coronavirus writings and will reiterate them in my forthcoming books on the failing Biden presidency.

Bottom line is, Biden is responsible for the 450,000 Covid deaths and counting under his watch, not Trump. To claim otherwise is just plain silly and is to ignore all of the facts.

Conclusion

Without the Trump vaccines, we probably would already have hit the one million Covid deaths in the USA that I predicted in my article Revised Coronavirus Numbers, written back in May 2020. But with Biden in office, we will hit that horrific number sometime in 2022. That number is heartbreaking and totally unnecessary, as I document in my my two-part articles Statistical Refutations of Covid Deniers and Antivaxxers and Needless Covid Deaths and Hospitalizations and Other Updates.

As such, Trump vs. Biden on Covid? I will take Trump. At least he did not make grandiose promises about shutting down the virus like Biden, who should have known better. But it was his Operation Warp Speed that gave us the vaccines in record time. But it is Biden, not Trump, who has contributed to vaccine hesitancy. Biden has also ignored the other steps that could be taken to protect people from Covid. Those missteps by Biden have extending this pandemic and caused hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.

References:

Breitbart. New York Times Admits More Coronavirus Deaths Under Joe Biden ‘Despite Vaccines.’

Breitbart. Nolte: Biden Congressional Address Was an Anti-Vaccine Infomercial.

Forbes. U.S. Covid-19 Deaths For 2021 Surpass Toll From 2020.

Forbes. U.S. Covid Death Toll Passes 700,000 As Delta Surges In Some States.

Fox News. Biden has no answers, gives no cause for hope in presidential news conference.

KFF. Latest Data on COVID-19 Vaccinations by Race/Ethnicity.

Market Watch. U.S. edges toward 50 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 800,000 fatalities, as New York starts week with new face mask mandate.

Newsmax. Greg Kelly Show. 12/16/21.

Newsmax. US Exceeds 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths.

NBC News. Coronavirus deaths: U.S. map shows number of fatalities compared to confirmed cases.

Postmillennial, The. BIDEN VIRUS: COVID-19 fatalities in US this year surpass 2020 death toll.