“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.” 

Proverbs 18:21

What truth we receive from Proverbs.

I know that my wife is weary of me speaking of Mr. Trump and his words.  Sometimes I am also weary of me speaking of Mr. Trump and his words.

But I just can’t seem to help it.  This man is the President of the United States, for goodness sake.

Words matter.

When Mr. Trump uses words in a pejorative sense to describe anyone who disagrees with him, we think of a 7th grade playground.  Maybe we roll our eyes.

When Mr. Trump uses words in a mocking manner toward a disabled reporter, we might hear some say, “Well, that’s Trump being Trump.”  (Whatever that’s supposed to mean.)

When Mr. Trump uses words to disparage a war hero, both before and after his death, maybe we shake our heads in disgust.  Trump being Trump?

When Mr. Trump uses words to speak more highly of world dictators than of U.S. allies, we might be thinking that bullies enjoy the company of bullies.  Or, we might be thinking, “What is he gaining personally from this?”

When Mr. Trump uses words to belittle the media (except for one network) as fake news, we are told he’s being a politician “throwing red meat” to his supporters.

When Mr. Trump uses words to cast doubt upon his intelligence community, those who have served both republican and democratic administrations for decades, we wonder how petty and insecure can one be.

I could go on…and on…and on.

Throughout his presidency, his supporters tell us, “You can’t take what he says literally.  You’re reading too much into what he says.”  And yet, he is the President of the United States.  His words matter!

Or we are told, “You have to read between the lines.  You have to understand what he means, not what he says.”  But, why?  Why should we have to try and interpret the words from the leader of the free world as if we are trying to solve a cryptic message or code?

We are told, “He just says what he thinks.  He likes to shake things up.”  Oh, so back to Trump being Trump…

And, up until a few weeks ago, most all of Mr. Trump’s lies, while being worthy of middle school playground language or disgusting or perplexing or politicized or hurtful toward others, typically have not put others in harm’s way.  Though I don’t know personally what it must be like to be the object of his irrational public ranting.

It’s been a game.  A nasty game.  Mr. Trump is a narcissistic bully and he enjoys the nasty game.  It’s classic narcissism.   According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (5th edition), Narcissistic Personality Disorder “comprises of a persistent manner of grandiosity, a continuous desire for admiration, along with a lack of empathy.”

That’s what America has endured for over 3 years.  All of his words are indicative of his excessive need for admiration and a disdain and lack of empathy for others.

All that changed in February and March of this year.  COVID-19 changed everything.  I’m going to list a series of quotes by Mr. Trump in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.  You don’t have to read them all (or any of them).  But his words in regard to the pandemic are stunning…and…they…matter.

Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” — Trump in a CNBC interview.

Jan. 30: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us … that I can assure you.” — Trump in a speech in Michigan.

Feb. 10: “Now, the virus that we’re talking about having to do — you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in great shape though. We have 12 cases — 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.” — Trump at the White House. (See our item “Will the New Coronavirus ‘Go Away’ in April?“)

Feb. 14: “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner.” — Trump in speaking to National Border Patrol Council members.

Feb. 23: “We have it very much under control in this country.” — Trump in speaking to reporters.

Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” — Trump in a tweet.

Feb. 26: “So we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.” — Trump at a White House briefing.

Feb. 26: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” — Trump at a press conference.

Feb. 26: “I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” — Trump at a press conference, when asked if “U.S. schools should be preparing for a coronavirus spreading.”

Feb. 27: “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” — Trump at a White House meeting with African American leaders.

Feb. 29: “And I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible. And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very, very cool. They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control.” — Trump in a speech at the CPAC conference outside Washington, D.C.

March 4: “[W]e have a very small number of people in this country [infected]. We have a big country. The biggest impact we had was when we took the 40-plus people [from a cruise ship]. … We brought them back. We immediately quarantined them. But you add that to the numbers. But if you don’t add that to the numbers, we’re talking about very small numbers in the United States.” — Trump at a White House meeting with airline CEOs.

March 4: “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number.” — Trump in an interview on Fox News, referring to the percentage of diagnosed COVID-19 patients worldwide who had died, as reported by the World Health Organization. (See our item “Trump and the Coronavirus Death Rate.”)

March 7: “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job with it.” — Trump, when asked by reporters if he was concerned about the arrival of the coronavirus in the Washington, D.C., area.

March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” — Trump in a tweet.

March 10: “And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” — Trump after meeting with Republican senators.

This year, Mardi Gras occurred on February 25th.  One million people descended upon the city of New Orleans.  This is what Mr. Trump had to say leading up to that event:

Feb. 14: “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner.” — Trump in speaking to National Border Patrol Council members.

Feb. 23: “We have it very much under control in this country.” — Trump in speaking to reporters.

Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” — Trump in a tweet.

Words really do matter, Mr. President.  Because of Mr. Trump’s words, how many people traveled to New Orleans thinking that “we have it very much under control in this country” when nothing was further from the truth.  Because of Mr. Trump’s words, how many Mardi Gras attenders who died from COVID-19 would be alive today?  How many of them would have opted to stay home and be safe?

Spring break typically occurs in mid-March.  Students from around the country traveled to the Gulf Coast.  This is what Mr. Trump said leading up to spring break.

March 7: “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job with it.” — Trump, when asked by reporters if he was concerned about the arrival of the coronavirus in the Washington, D.C., area.

March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” — Trump in a tweet.

March 10: “And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” — Trump after meeting with Republican senators.

Words really do matter, Mr. President.  Because of Mr. Trump’s words, how many young people traveled to the Gulf Coast thinking “…we’re doing a great job with it….And it will go away” when Mr. Trump knew that was not the case?  How many people died from COVID-19 because they thought everything was under control?

We are now hearing that the Trump administration likely knew as early as November that things were not right in China.  But even if we give Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt in that regard (which is generous), the irresponsibility of saying “we have it very much under control” in February and “we’ve done a great job with it” in March is inexcusable.

Just think, even if Mr. Trump believed what he was saying, if he had just kept his mouth shut, lives would have been saved.  If he had listened to the medical experts, lives would have been saved.  If he had trusted his intelligence reports, lives would have been saved.  At the very least, it may be that fewer people would have chosen to travel to New Orleans for Mardi Gras or to the Gulf Coast for spring break…carrying COVID-19 back with them to their towns and cities.

It might be debated whether Mr. Trump knew of the severity of what was going on as early as November.  However, he most definitely knew about it early in January.  And yet, in March, he said “we have it very much under control.”  That may be Mr. Trump’s most egregious and deadly lie during his term as President…and that’s saying a lot.

What if the government’s response to the pandemic had occurred even one month or 6 weeks earlier when there is no doubt that Mr. Trump and his administration knew of the dangers?  Lives would have been saved.  Words matter:

• Pejorative words toward opponents?  Disappointing, eye-rolling
• Mocking words toward the disabled?  Trump being Trump
• Disparaging words toward a war hero?  Disgusting
• Flattering words toward world dictators?  Puzzling
• Belittling words toward the media?  Political
• Critical words toward his intelligence community?  Petty, insecure
• Lies about how his administration is handling a pandemic?  DEADLY

Death and life are, indeed, in the power of the tongue.

Words really do matter, Mr. President.