Theoritcally, the principles of democracy protect human rights and the dignity of people. Isn’t that our long-held understanding of democracy? Political sovereignty, societal equality, and free and fair elections underpin the fundamentals of democracy. Obviously, democratic governments do not tolerate killing people except during war and in uncommon cases of capital punishment. These conclusions are foundational to the America ethos.
Alas, homicidal heads of state, regardless of the brand of government, are everywhere throughout history, even in self-described democracies. When power is concentrated in government, the prospect of state sponsored murder increases. Totalitarian regimes, autocracies, and political strongmen, whatever their designation, account for the most lethal brands of rule. Communists, fascists, or dictatorships head the list of dangerous agents who are likely to slaughter their citizens. While it may be tricky parsing a government as a democracy, a republic, a monarchy, a socialist state, a communist state, or a mixture of political components, and so on, it is easy to match human bloodbaths to leadership when the meatgrinder starts to turn. As we thumb through the chapters of history, the list of murdered millions boggles rational thought and defeats reason.
Mao Zedong is the undisputed champion of killing the most people, 40 to 80 million, though the actual number is impossible to calculate. These deaths occurred through systematic executions, forced labor conditions, and, most significantly, man-made famine. The Great Leap forward resulted in at least 15 million dead people. Famine as well as an ill-conceived cultural revolution cashiered millions more. Mao’s foolish decisions (killing all the English sparrows, rats, mosquitoes, and flies, for instance, which added to the unbalance of nature and caused plagues and diseases) enhanced the death toll. So much for the experiment of allowing a poet to rule a country!
Likewise, Joseph (Uncle Joe) Stalin murdered, give or take, about 40 million. Genghis Khan’s feudal military government doubtless slaughtered 40 million as well. And Hitler was responsible for over 35 million murders, likely closer to 36 million. Other infamous butchers have contributed to the Top Ten list of those responsible for most people killed. Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, cashiered between 1.5 and 2 million people. The dictator of North Korea - Kim Il Sung, racked upwards to three million Korean citizens. Ethiopian Marxist Mengistu Haile Mariam was responsible for between half a million and two million dead. The Nigerian Yakubu Gowon, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Uganda Idi Amin (who ate some of his victims), all were responsible for untold murders.
The fascist leaders Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco were responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths and for multiple war crimes. Hard to calculate just how many they killed.
Though it makes one dizzy, let’s look at the scoreboard for just the 21stcentury. Who are the most dangerous people, the ones doing the most killing over the last 25 years?
Russa’s Putin leaps to mind, of course, because of the defenestration of his adversaries and political opponents. Who knows how many people he has killed? After nearly 25 years in power, the list of dead foes and critics cannot be a series of luckless coincidences. Bearing in mind his murderous attacks against Chechnya and Ukraine, his toll of misery and outrageous aggression is extraordinary. Simply put, Putin is a big-time killer, and he will kill more when he needs to show his power over every enemy and critic.
The long list of Putin’s enemies who have met early and violent deaths, include the journalist Anna Politkovsaya, the ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinkenko, the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, and recently the death of Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (allegedly poisoned by a toxin found in a South America dart frog). Critic and former United Nations diplomat, Boris Bondarev tells Tortoise: “I think [Putin] wanted to show his power, his capacity to reach to anybody. Maybe because what was the point of being a dictator if you do not abuse your power?”
Xi Jinping’s body count is difficult to calculate because his is a closed society. Yet various international human rights group have noted over 20,000 Uyghurs have been killed while in internment camps, millions of political opponents have been persecuted, many of whom committed suicide as a result. And, most of all, millions of Chinese citizens died during the COVID-19 crisis either because the virus was released from government research labs or Xi Jinping mishandled the crisis. Perhaps both.
While Trump’s body count is difficult to chart, he does have blood on his small hands. Dozens of medical experts claim over 400,000 unnecessary deaths occurred during the final years of Trump’s first term because of inept COVID-19 responses. Those deaths cannot be labeled murder but may be considered criminally negligent homicide. Now as Trump promises to export “the worst of the worst criminals” to foreign shores, the worst criminal in our country just happens to live in the White House. Mass deportation will claim the lives of hundreds if not thousands of lives, many did nothing but fail to complete the proper forms, to ask for the necessary hearings. Recently, Trump has decided to add outright murder to his CV by killing suspected drug-runners. He has acted as judge, jury, and executioner without presenting any evidence as he executed extrajudicial killings. He has drawn the attention of the U.N Commission for Human Rights, which has condemned the practice as murder.
His elected aggression has peaked recently with a full-scale attack on Iran and its partners in the middle east. Though he has pledged to keep America out of wars, he opted to barrel into yet another war, one promising to take thousands of lives, if not much more. Distilled, Trump is a murderer and proud of it.
Trump recently said “I don’t think we’re necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead.” He does seem proud of himself.
As of this moment, Trump is still at-large and considered armed and dangerous.