A laying on of hands for Donald Trump from his spiritual advisors.

Donald Trump is poised to become the most ruthless killer in the history of the United States. The "pro-life" president is contemplating unleashing the American economy to save the fortunes of billionaires by sending a virus back out on the streets to kill a million or more of the people he was elected to protect. Consider these items of not so "fake news." ·     

Trump is complaining that being President has cost him 2 billion dollars.

·   The virus is causing his properties to be closed.

·  The stock exchange is on the highway to hell.

·  Dr. Fauci must stop correcting him.

·  Trump death panels are just around the corner as understaffed and ill equipped hospitals begin turning away the sick when too many beat a path to their doors.

  Between LBJ and Nixon 75,000 Americans died in Vietnam. If 1% of one-third of the US population catches the virus and dies, it will take one million lives. In short order, Donald Trump will have gone from being the unlikely victor in 2016 to the greatest vector of disease in our continent’s history since smallpox wiped out whole Indian nations.

Five days after the Duluth Reader is published, if it is published, Trump will be 5 days from the end of his 15-day waiting period. He seems poised to ignore the 21st century’s best science and medical know-how so that he can restart the economy. He explains that this is a measure to prevent thousands of worker suicide’s-by-layoff. Of course, several farmers killed themselves after he froze exports to China, but I’d be more worried about depressed family members looking for solace after the loss of a loved one.

The 1918 Influenza pandemic killed 50 million people world-wide and that was in a world of not quite two billion people. Today there are nearly eight billion of us at risk. Only a handful of elected officials stand between Donald Trump’s bravado and Armageddon. One of them is our Congressman Pete Stauber but so far Pete has only acted as a green light to the most predictably bankrupt man on the planet.

Trump is a man who has never lived with a moment of self-doubt. His godlike certainty has been buttressed by Christian carnival barkers who predict the rapture but who also assure their followers that until the apocalypse comes, God wants his followers to pant after great wealth. This “prosperity gospel” shows scant understanding of Christian scripture. Gone are the Beatitudes and the parables of the rich man unable to ascend to heaven. They more closely mimic the unfaithful escapees from Egypt who defied Moses by worshiping a golden calf. Astride today's golden calf rides a cocksure man with thinning hair, the mental acuity of a seven-year old and the libido of a harem master.

Tens of millions of lives may be lost to slake the vanity and greed of this man; a million or more of them American. But they will be the disposable lives of the infirm, the uninsured, the unlucky, and the elderly. Dan Patrick, Lt. Governor of Texas, just went on Fox News to explain that grandparents should sacrifice themselves for their grandchildren. No doubt the ex-talk show host is unaware that toddlers, like the aged, are prone to a gruesome death from the coronavirus. Mr. Patrick gives new meaning to the Republican “pro-life” platform.

I don’t trust sycophantic congressman to take the President aside and tell him: “Mr. President don’t stoke the virus by restarting the economy. This too shall pass if we shelter-in-place.” Instead these threadbare “leaders” have stood back in starry-eyed fear of the president's awesome power to cut their political lives short with his cult-like powers over an army of red hats. Where is today’s Senator Goldwater who “had the talk” with President Nixon?

Trump’s peers, the Chinese emperor Xi and Tsar Putin, would pause before making such a consequential decision. But they are adult despots in a world proliferating with wannabe despots. Donald Trump is a child with congressmen for toys. I’d like to pick up Congressman Stauber and look at the sole of his shoe to see if “Donny” is scrawled across it.

If Trump puts my family’s lives at risk as he has jeopardized our nation’s rule-of-law, by unleashing the virus, I will challenge Pete Stauber for his 8th district seat. I will do it with considerably more vigor than my indifferent protest filing two years ago. It would be the coronavirus campaign. I think I could get a lot more than five percent of the vote this time.

If Harry Welty does file for Congress again you will be able to follow the campaign at: www.lincoln democrat.com