On Wednesday, President Trump said, regarding COVID-19 deaths, “So we’re down in this territory, and that’s despite the fact that the Blue states had had tremendous death rates. If you take the Blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at. We’re really at a very low level. But some of the states, they were Blue states and Blue state-managed.”

I have buried eight people who died from the coronavirus. They weren’t Red or Blue. They were American. To define the value of deaths based on the state where one lives is decidedly un-American and definitely not “pro-life.” It is morally repugnant. It says only the lives in Red states matter, not the lives of all the citizens of the United States, which the president was elected to serve. It is callous beyond belief. (And apparently in this worldview, lives of Republicans don’t count in states with Democratic leaders, but my life would count if I still lived in North Dakota.)

Beyond that, the president’s premise is flawed. We had a lot of death early on in Connecticut when he was hiding the severity of the disease and not sharing the facts. But once it appeared, the Northeast got down to business, socially distanced, put on masks, and now we have the lowest death rates in the county. Other states would be wise to follow suit, and we would be in much better shape. Wearing a mask isn’t that hard. And it makes a difference.

How can anyone support a man who so seeks to divide our country that he sees death tolls in terms of political affiliation, promotes events like indoor rallies that will lead to the illness and deaths of his followers and those they encounter and eschews the simplest way to deal prevent its spread, making public health a political issue.

I truly can’t fathom his lack of concern for the whole nation he swore to serve and protect and his rank disregard to promote the common good.

Apparently when he said, “All lives matter” he didn’t mean mine.