President Trump pulls off his protective face mask as he poses atop the Truman Balcony of the White House after returning from being hospitalized at Walter Reed medical center for coronavirus treatment https://t.co/Pv5yJOoEp6 (Photo: Erin Scott / Reuters) pic.twitter.com/tospqjsRCm

— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 5, 2020

*Editor’s Note: Elephant Journal articles represent the personal views of the authors, and can not possibly reflect Elephant Journal as a whole. Disagree with an Op-Ed or opinion? We’re happy to share your experience here.

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Read how the world is viewing the great American drama: A Non-American’s Take on Trump Testing Positive for COVID-19.

Want to know some more possible dangerous outcomes? Read this: October Surprise: Donald Trump Tests Positive for the Coronavirus—Here’s the Scary Part.

It is very tempting for liberals to revel in the Schadenfreude of President Trump contracting COVID-19. 

After all, this is the man who proclaimed that the virus would “go away on its own” and that hydroxychloroquine and the injection of bleach are possible cures.

So, why have compassion for this huckster narcissist? Why have compassion for the man who has:

>> Run roughshod over the political norms of decency,
>> Derided Mexicans and Muslims,
>> Lowered our global standing in the world,
>> Praised white supremacists,
>> Ridiculed army veterans and a disabled reporter,
>> Scammed the IRS,
>> Professed his love for Kim Jong Il, and
>> Bragged that he could grab women’s genitals with impunity because he is famous

Trump not only embodies the worst in human selfishness, but he also represents an authoritarian and anarchic force that threatens the tenets of American democracy and the ideals of the Founding Fathers.

Compassion and forgiveness for the President are more challenging in light of his lack of concern for the 210,000 Americans who have died and thousands of others who have suffered permanent lung and organ damage from COVID-19.

He tweeted, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” There are friends of mine on social media who either infer or state their wish for his demise. Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter implemented a policy banning posts that wish for someone’s death.

Trump may be sh*tting on all of the political and personal norms that we hold dear, but there are myriad reasons to wish for his full recovery.

First, the incapacitation or death of the American president would send global markets into utter chaos.

The leader of the free world, however incompetent, is still the linchpin of western democracy. With a million global deaths due to COVID-19 the world is in a precarious position, and the instability that would be created by Trump’s demise would benefit no one.

Second, Trump needs to be defeated at the polls rather than by the Coronavirus.

The coming election will most likely be an anarchic affair settled weeks or months later in the courts, with Trump bloviating about “rigged” results from mail-in ballots. If the current polls are accurate, Trump will eventually have to concede to Biden, especially if he loses the key battleground states and loses the electoral vote definitively.

The third and perhaps most salient reason we must not wish for Trump’s death is personal: wishing for someone’s death is an act of violence that ultimately injures the one who wishes for it.

One might argue that we must serve the greater good by removing evil. To that point, some may argue the question, “What if Hitler had been killed before he could order the deaths of 6 million Jews?”

You might argue that Trump is responsible for thousands of deaths because of minimizing the danger of COVID-19 and promoting false cures. You may recall images of children put in cages at the Mexican border, separated from their parents due to his administration’s inhumane policies.

Trump embodies authoritarian traits, but he is not Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, or Mugabe.

Before I began writing this piece, I hoped that perhaps Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and his subsequent suffering would instill an iota of compassion in him. But narcissists are so obsessed with feeding their fragile egos with praise and justifying their actions that compassion and empathy are antithetical to their condition.

George Conway, founder of the Lincoln Project and husband of Trump’s former advisor Kellyanne, has written extensively about the President’s textbook Narcissistic Personality Disorder and why he is unfit for office.

Trump, if he doesn’t succumb to his massive hubris in the next week, will most likely recover fully with the help of the best medical care in the world and boast about his defeating the virus.

If Trump were to succumb to Coronavirus, he would become a martyr for MAGA, further perpetuating a cult of racist and ignorant ideology that further splits America. Democracy will be best served if he is defeated by our votes, not by the virus or our hatred.