Former New York Times health reporter Donald McNeil ran the numbers and figures that if, on average since May, 1,800 Americans have died of COVID-19 and at a small-c conservative estimate 75% of those are unvaccinated Trump voters, then he’s losing at least 1,300 voters a day. Drilling down into 2020 swing states Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin, McNeil estimates that Trump is losing 103 voters each day between the four states that he lost by a combined 76,514 votes in 2020. McNeil speculates Trump minions told him to push for booster shots – even in spite of being booed twice by his fans in person over the extra shots and vaccines in general – knowing that his would-be 2024 voter base is shrinking at an alarmingly rapid pace.

* And yes, we’re aware of why Donald McNeil isn’t with the New York Times anymore. The story sounds way more like him being an insensitive asshole than an outright racist – and even the reporting seems to focus more on the internal staff blowback than the incident itself. But sometimes heads have to roll, especially when those heads don’t apologize sincerely the first time. Either way, the relative ignominy of the author doesn’t make this analysis any less valid.