Not just one man
May 24, 2025 – Opinion by Hernando resident Phillip Torme
Between 1933 and 1945, over 6 million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis right under the noses of many German citizens. Of course many others died because of WWII including our own – clearly an enormous tragedy.
But now because of decisions made by certain “leaders” of the U.S.A., people are dying at an alarmingly similar rate right under our noses because of the information available to us. Some will die anyway but that’s not the point. Infectious disease mathematical modeler, Dr. Brooke Nichols of Boston University and her team have created an on-line tracker estimating deaths due to the U.S.A.’s funding discontinuations and disruptions. To see the human impact use the following search term: Impactcounter.com/dashboard.
As of this writing, over 260,000 have died because of the termination or disruption of aid the U.S. had been providing. The current death rate estimate is 103 per hour.
We spend about 24 percent of our budget on Medicare/Medicaid – much less on defense. We have been giving less than 1 percent for foreign aid. USAID has been spending between 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent of our annual budget. We can afford to help without interruption!
At 103 deaths per hour, 6 million could be reached in 6.5 years. Is this the beginning of a new kind of holocaust caused by the richest nation in the world? From my point of view, turning our backs on people who are now dying of malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea, malnutrition/starvation, pneumonia, certain tropical diseases, Medicaid disruptions, HIV and other catastrophic healthcare expenditures, though not identical to shooting them or thrusting them into gas chambers, is still exponentially beyond heinous.
Though I think of Hitler first, the Holocaust was not the result of one man’s efforts. Nor is this current disaster the result of one person’s efforts. But for MAGA supporters who object to comparisons between Trump and Hitler, please rethink what our government has done. My belief is that you are good people and will object to all of this. MAGA advocates and others, including those in Congress and in the Cabinet, need to help us address this atrocity. We who care are so tired of dealing with the apparent blindness of our leaders. Please step up in the name of decency and help save our country from acquiring a ghastly reputation similar to that of the former Nazi Germany. Wake up. It’s happening now.