The virus would be bad enough on its own. The pandemic now gripping much of the world is capable, based merely on science, of wreaking sufficient havoc on public health and the global economy to last several lifetimes.
But add to that some of the most deeply-seated components of American ideology, and you can see why the United States is positioned to feel the pain even more acutely than most other nations.
While much of Europe and Asia have implemented drastic measures to flatten the curve of infection and transmission, America has done what we always do. First, deny that what others around the world experience could happen here — something we believed for a long time before 9/11 too — and then bask in our bravado, satisfied that even if awfulness visits our shores, it will be no match for the red, white and blue.
Thus, the reassurance early on from national security advisor Robert O’Brien, to the effect that America has “the greatest medical system in the world,” and thus we had little to fear — a pronouncement that was untrue in both the first and second parts of the claim. Nevertheless it sure sounded confident, badass even, which is no doubt why O’Brien said it.
