From Fintan O'Toole in the Irish Times (as reported in Hobbledehoy):
Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity.
However bad things are for most other rich democracies, it is hard not to feel sorry for Americans. Most of them did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Yet they are locked down with a malignant narcissist who, instead of protecting his people from Covid-19, has amplified its lethality. The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pitiful.
All my life I have admired the USA. She seemed a beacon of democracy, a centre of high technology, a place to emulate and admire. Yes, she was flawed, but so were other places. Somehow, the US glittered and shone. They seemed to do things better there. Now ...... Fintan O'Toole is right: the USA is no longer admirable. Instead she is pitiable.
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