Timothy Eagan noted today that in 1847 the members of the Choctaw Nation sent relief money to Ireland when a million people were lost in the potato famine. The Irish have not forgotten, and they are now sending aid to Native American tribes hit by the coronavirus.
The United States, with about 5% of the world’s population, has 33% of the sick. South Korea and United States reported their first cases on the same day. South Korea acted immediately with tests and social distancing. The U.S. did almost nothing for two months. South Korea is back to work. We are getting hundreds of new deaths every day.
When Trump was asked about who was in charge of the vaccine program, he said, “Honestly? I am. I’ll tell you, I’m really in charge of it.” We are in such trouble.
Will this country’s prestige ever recover? Will we ever be the leader we were for 70 years from the end of World War II? Trump has made this nation an object of pity and derision. Even if he loses the election in November, he has set this country so far back that it will take many years to recover, if we ever do.
Some of the information for this post was taken from Timothy Egan, “All Across the Globe, They’re Taking Pity on America,” New York Times, (May 9, 2020), p. 27.
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