Coronavirus: This Is World War III

Today we have turned away from fighting about whether there is a threat, or who is to blame, and towards a mutual understanding that we are at war, and what we have to do to beat the enemy, coronavirus. We are fighting WWIII. We will beat it.

Today, Sunday March 29th, 2020 was a terrible day by the numbers. Monday will be worse. And so will be Tuesday and some days beyond. At the moment, New York City is under siege, and it will be so for a while. Louisiana is just ramping up, as is Detroit, LA, and several other metro areas. Our trusted General of this war, Dr. Fauci, has delivered a sobering estimate that one hundred thousand Americans will die, or more. The news is now about how we’ll fight, not about whether we should.

Today, the United States of America is in this together. We are at war. The United States of America wins wars when we are all in it together. Our last great victory was nearly a century ago after World War II. We are now at war, with the rest of the world. The coronavirus is our enemy in World War III.

In WWIII we have many allies. China is our ally. Italy and Spain, who are suffering mightily, are our allies, as is the EU. Russia and Iran may foolishly think they still our enemies, but they have not yet understood. Several other simpleton states are still in denial, but this coronavirus will quickly topple the ignorant, just as is has already here in the USA. This is a world war against a single, external enemy. We may as well be fighting against an alien invasion. Today, our entire world is at war, against a single enemy. We are all allied against this enemy.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but in truth the difference between our best possible response and our actual response will be a matter of debate for historians. Should we have acted sooner? Should we have planned ahead? Should we have invested in this? Yes, yes, yes. Indeed, it’s quite clear that Trump’s denial and slow-walking will have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. As Americans, we should absolutely hold him to account and vote him out, if he lasts as our leader until then (it is very reasonable to think that he may be removed as President before this all is done, perhaps using Article 25 of our constitution).

But, Trump is not our most immediate concern. (He is a major concern if he continues to assert falsehoods and absurdities, but my assessment is that as of today he has finally been subordinated by the facts, and by grim reality. If this assessment is wrong, then yes, Trump is still a force at play.)

There are many other forces, some still at play, who attempted to deny that we should respond. They have cost us precious days, and lives. But reality being as it is, a huge and unforgiving bitch, we now know that coronavirus is real, it is here, is it now, and it is our singular and only enemy.

It is time for Americans to come together as we do when things are hard. And now things are hard. Things are going to get harder, a lot harder, in the next weeks. But we are Americans, and we are tough, resilient people. If you are conservative, or if you are liberal, we all agree on something: coronavirus is our enemy, and we’re a single country now. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at Fox and look at MSNBC and see the same news: we’re all Americans, fighting a single war, together.

I know the United States of America will come together, because we are a great country, and that’s what great countries do in times of war.