Thread by @gauravsabnis

America's had a Civil War. America's had a Cold War. The lack of proportional remorse or outrage from Republicans about an outgoing president fomenting an attack on the Capitol suggests something disturbing. We are at the start of a Cold Civil War or Civil Cold War.

They are trying to foment a rebellion. And with the 2nd amendment fever in recent decades, the world has never seen a rebellion attempted by people with so many guns. So. Many. Guns. The potential danger here for a Mad Max type world is very realistic unless Republicans stop him.

Also remember that we are literally losing more people to Covid every single day than 9/11 fatalities. I remember when total US military deaths in Iraq surpassing 9/11 was a media landmark a few years into the war. We are losing that number EVERYDAY to a virus Australia beat.

And if you've been to both countries, you'll see why there is no reason why the US could not have controlled this after the March NYC outbreak if Australia could. Agreed that US has 15 times as many people but also a 15 times bigger economy. But very similar lifestyles.

No reason other than Donald Trump. He was handed a golden opportunity to sew up re-election by just handing everything over to scientists, push through big checks with Dems, beef up funding for healthcare and testing, beef up USPS for mail voting. Then just sit back. But no.

99% Americans already live kinda socially distanced lives. Unless you're in NYC or DC, you rarely come within 6 feet of more than a handful of people for more than a minute. If AUS & NZ could control it relatively easily, so could have most of "middle America". If not for Trump.

We had a rough brutal time in NYC and we are still fighting the virus, but here, social distancing takes extra effort and imposes massive economic costs. We are still doing that. And those Prairie folks still showing surges? WTF? It's like they ran TO the virus.

A big blind spot in the media coverage of covid is just how incredibly self-destructively bad the US federal govt under Trump was to lose this many people. Literally any other president, even Ted Cruz, and we would have probably lost less than a tenth as many people.

Remember, Australia isn't some liberal dreamland like most Nordic countries. Politically, Australia is very much right-of-center like US. But their conservatives seem to have better survival instincts than ours.

Here's a comparison of two very remote places naturally blessed to shut down covid early and fast.

New Zealand
Popn: 5 million
Area: 103K sq mi
Covid deaths: 25

Alaska
Popn: 730K
Area: 660K sq miles
Covid deaths: 214

The only real difference here is the political philosophy.