In my lifetime, there’s been a War on Drugs, a War on Terrorism, even a War on Illiteracy. In the history of the United States, the Revolutionary War is the matrix out of which the country was forged. When we managed to handle our exterior enemies enough, we turned to the differences within our own borders, et voila! The American Civil War.Then there are the Culture Wars. In this morning’s Times, San Francisco-based technology commentator Farhad Manjoo, a self-confessed optimist, writes, “Let us not squander another crisis. We need to take a long, hard look at all the ways the pandemic can push this little planet of ours to further ruin—and then work like crazy, together, to stave off the coming hell.” Whoa! What’s happened to Mr. Manjoo? I can tell you. He’s flipped polarities.

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The I-Know-Better-Than-Everyone-in-Chief is taking hydroxychloroquine, allegedly preventatively, since his exposure to two White House staffers who tested positive for coronavirus. His personal physician says they weighed the “potential benefits and relative risks,” and the president decided, “What do I have to lose?” Even I know the answer to that question. The natural rhythm of your own heartbeat, Idjit. You don’t have to have heart disease for this to happen. Doctors all over the world are issuing caveats left and right, and wringing their hands over his lamentable example. But Mr. Trump doesn’t want to be an example. He doesn’t lead via good example. He wants, nay, demands, unquestioning loyalty, a willingness to be humiliated, and a self-conscious, sycophantic toadying that makes his followers not only seem weak, but be repeatedly weakened.

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