[300 words]
Depends on your taste.
If you feel that just hoping someone dies, no matter the circumstances, is morally wrong… then no, it’s not OK.
But if you feel anything less extreme than that — then yeah, it’s fine.
First off, it’s natural. If something exists which goes against your values or interests, your first, gut reaction will be for it to not exist.
But more importantly, Trump’s death of Covid-19 could potentially do the world a lot of good.
There’s a sizeable proportion of the US population who look to him for guidance. He has been influencing them — through his words and actions — to not take the pandemic very seriously.
This means that these people endanger their own lives and — due to the nature of easily transmissible diseases — those of many other people.
As a result, the best thing Donald Trump could do for the world is to communicate clearly to these people that the pandemic is a problem which should be addressed as recommended by people who are knowledgeable about public health and epidemiology.
So I’ll ask you a question.
How do you think he could best communicate that message?
Sure — if he dies in hospital or suffers serious long-term consequences, some die-hard delusionals will cry conspiracy. But those people will seemingly never listen to reason; thus, it’s best not to take them into account.
Everyone who currently listens to Trump and is capable of changing their minds will probably be woken up by his death in a way that no other message will be able to accomplish.
…with one exception:
He survives, comes out the other end chastened and humbled, and resolves to follow Anthony Fauci’s advice to the letter and spread it as widely as he can.
And so you have to ask yourself how likely that second option is.
And if you don’t think it’s very likely……… then I hate to break it to you, but a part of you might have to hope he dies.
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David Leon 