President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, addresses his remarks at a coronavirus (COVID-19) update briefing Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Pat Buchanan notes that a “new social solidarity and spirit of self-sacrifice seem to be manifesting themselves in this pandemic,” but asks “can it endure?” He writes (abridged):
“It’s a war,” says President Donald Trump of his efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, and likening his role to that of “wartime president.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo welcomed the president’s claim to his commander in chief role in the crisis and his resolve: “The president and I agreed yesterday… we’re fighting the same war — and this is a war.”
While a new social solidarity and spirit of self-sacrifice seem to be manifesting themselves in this pandemic, can it endure?
Is the country prepared for months, or years, of social isolation, if that is what is required to win this war?
On March 3, the number of new cases of the coronavirus reported across South Korea was 852. On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, exactly two weeks later, the count was 85 new cases, a plunge of 90%.
South Korea appears to have “flattened the curve.”
We Americans, however, are far from that.
Will Americans suffer in social isolation, inside their own homes for months, while a state-induced Great Depression washes over the land?
My guess is that many will rebel.
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