OPINION - Americans love to do things in a big way and to be the first at everything.
The US is the most powerful and richest nation on earth. Although the Soviet Union beat it in the space race by becoming the first nation to send a man into orbit, the Americans made up for it by being the first nation to send a man to the moon.
America once boasted the tallest building in the world, but it has lost the race into the sky. The Empire State Building has long been eclipsed by others around the world. It is now ranked at a mere 51 among the world’s tallest buildings.
Americans are world leaders in technology, telecommunications, computers and internet.
Hollywood dominates the movie industry.
The constitution gives every American the right to arm themselves to the teeth and protect themselves and their families. Guns can be bought over the counter like burgers and Coke, and America tops the world for mass shootings.
When Donald Trump came to power, he set about improving the economy. Trump got much applause for his “America first” policy.
Just when the wheels of industry were purring along, along came Covid-19 and stumped Trump.
Now, with more than 20million citizens filing for unemployment benefits, surpassing the Great Depression, the world’s biggest economy is in death throes, strangled by the coronavirus. The US soon became the epicentre of the virus. Another accolade?
In desperation, Trump fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, threatened to fire infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci for criticising his government’s slow response to the pandemic, and punished the WHO by withholding funds at a critical time. But he is powerless against a tiny virus that has wiped out all his gains.
T Markandan Kloof