On Oct. 2, President Trump revealed that both he and First Lady Melania Trump have contracted COVID-19. As is to be expected, people immediately took to social media to express their opinions about the matter. These opinions ranged from your typical conservative bootlicking rubbish to death threats. Personally, what surprised me the most about the whole ordeal — given that I am totally unsurprised that he got the virus based on literally all of his recent actions — was how many liberals and others who are anti-Trump were defending the man or wishing him a speedy recovery.

The coronavirus has seriously impacted so many people, like those who have lost loved ones, small businesses owners whose livelihoods have been imperiled and vulnerable groups who have had to live in fear for their lives, to give a few examples. Trump, on the other hand, is disgustingly wealthy and therefore has access to the absolute best medical care imaginable. His wealth and position of power also insulate him from any concerns about loss of income while he is receiving treatment. 

On top of that, he has exhibited little to no social responsibility and absolutely no empathy for those who he has put at risk by not only refusing to wear a mask himself, but also by pouring gas on the asinine fire that is the anti-mask movement. His illness is entirely and undeniably his own fault — why on earth would I feel the slightest bit sympathetic for him, regardless of whether he is in good health or not? 

What’s more is that his borderline fascist political views are definitively violent by nature. He has blood on his hands for how poorly he has handled the pandemic, allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to struggle to support themselves and their dependents with a single, measly $1200 stimulus check, not to mention his immigration policy, his actions in the Middle East, his racism and too many more abhorrent crimes against the human lives. If I were to account for his influence on public attitudes towards people of color, women, LGBTQ+ identities, immigrants and other marginalized groups, his death toll would only be all the more immense.

For the record, I am not a part of the group of people who have been publicly wishing death on him — in fact, I wish him a long, long recovery, because if he kicked the bucket right now, Mike Pence would take the reins until the upcoming election and we would have to look at his terrible little homophobic face in the history books forever. 

So yes, Trump contracting coronavirus is funny — hilarious, actually, considering how he called this virus a hoax for months while the entire world was hurting from its impact. The jokes nearly write themselves. It is akin to someone ridiculing space suits and then getting launched into orbit. It’s like he made fun of seatbelts just to get in a car accident and sail through the windshield. It’s like someone told him his shoes were untied and he got angry, stormed away, and immediately tripped and cracked his skull open. It’s like medical experts all over the world told him that taking just a few simple precautions would not only keep himself safe, but also ensure that he does his part in protecting public health, and he turned it into a partisan issue, refused to heed their advice and got himself sick — oh wait, that is exactly what actually happened!

He could have just worn his mask, washed his hand and shut his mouth, but instead he decided to act like a power-drunk toddler and, for God knows what reason, endanger everyone who has the enormous misfortune of being anywhere near him. Unlike a toddler, however, he deserves much more than a slap on the wrist for the gravity of his transgressions. Weighing the immorality of Trump’s conduct, especially during his presidency, against that of the people online who are making jokes at his expense, the latter is utterly dwarfed.

The idea that one should be tolerant, even toward those who themselves are dangerously intolerant, needs to die. Tolerating intolerance merely perpetuates the intolerance and nullifies the good behind the tolerance. I would like to consider myself a pretty tolerant person, but I haven’t got a single molecule of empathy in my body for the well-being of a man who is adamantly opposed to socialized healthcare —  it is only right that a man who is so sickening to his very core is sick. Thus, as I jibe at Trump’s misfortunes, my conscience is unabashedly pristine.