Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

If the COVID-19 death toll in the US is held between 100,000 and 200,000, then "we altogether have done a very good job," US President Donald Trump said in March. 

This was Trump's trick - he gave a seemingly impossible number to try to cover his failures in the COVID-19 fight. But unexpectedly, that large number was surpassed after only six months. According to data from John Hopkins University, the COVID-19 death toll in the US has reached 199,265 as of press time.

Shockingly, under such grim circumstances, Trump on Tuesday still defended his assertion that the novel coronavirus would "disappear" with or without a vaccine. On Wednesday, Trump even said the US' COVID-19 death toll would be lower "if you take the blue states out."

But it's not the red states or the blue states that are suffering, it's the United States of America. The latest death toll is a huge slap in the face for Trump's proclamations. The US has already fallen into a humanitarian disaster. By shirking their responsibilities to each other, US politicians cannot escape the blame of the American people and the whole world.

After all, these victims cannot vote and thus the Trump administration will not care. How many more American people will have to die from the virus in the future? No one can foretell. 

Some 200,000 American people have died, but Trump is still separating himself from the Democratic Party, trying to win votes for his reelection in November. US politics have been polarized. Facing a common challenge for all mankind, the Trump administration cannot shoulder the responsibility of a ruling party, nor can it lead the entire country toward unity. All the US has is smearing, internal division and a top-to-bottom anti-scientific attitude. This is a huge shame to the US.

When the COVID-19 death toll reached 100,000 in the US in May, The New York Times released one-line obituaries for 1,000 victims on its front page to mark the grim milestone. However, this has failed to touch the nerves of the Trump administration. As the presidential election is approaching, US politicians are still creating divisions, trying to disrupt American people's minds and make them blind. Votes, instead of saving people's lives, have become Washington's top priority. Be it humanitarianism or human rights, they have reduced everything to hypocritical slogans. Is this how great the US is?

Washington's failure in fighting the COVID-19 has made Western democratic systems a big embarrassment worldwide. And by withdrawing from the World Health Organization as the coronavirus is still raging, the US has already become a cancer, affecting international cooperation in the COVID-19 fight. The US' circus-style political show will only lead to the continued spread of the virus, and 200,000 deaths will not be the end. The American people, especially the poor and other disadvantaged groups, will become victims in vain.

Today, it seems the COVID-19 death number does not mean anything for the Trump administration anymore. It will be neither a pressure nor a motivation.