Pollak: Now Is the Time to Pull Together

We will set politics aside in a moment — but first, a few observations.

If you are a Democrat, and watched Sunday night’s debate on CNN, you likely felt some degree of frustration.

It is not clear that either of the two remaining candidates is capable of running the country. None feels like an alternative to President Donald Trump. One wants revolution, and one wants to restore the status quo ante, but neither of them is dealing with the world here and now.

Neither of them, in fact, offered their support to the president.

Nor did Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in her address last week; she ignored him. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-SC) warned Trump would use the crisis to “indulge his autocratic tendencies”; House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) compared Trump to Hitler. Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez attacked Trump supporters’ religious faith.

That sort of nonsense has to stop. Now.

And not just because it is unfair — which it certainly is: Democrats ignored the coronavirus threat until it was almost too late.

No — the reason the attacks on the president must stop is they are fanning the flames of panic in the country, especially in the cities.

People want to know that someone is in charge. It is important to unite behind that person — even with constructive criticism — but not to pretend he or she isn’t there.

It would be politically wise for Democrats — as California Gov. Gavin Newsom has done — to acknowledge when the president has done a good job, and for the president not to respond to every critic.

More than politically wise: it will help hold our society together.

Because while elections are very important, what we are staring at is the possible breakdown of society itself, if we cannot pull together and do what is necessary to defeat the coronavirus outbreak.

The economists say that this is not like 2008, because there is no credit crisis. The banks are healthy, and we can draw on their reserves (collectively, anyway).

But the reserves of social trust are very, very low.

We have been squandering them for at least a decade, and perhaps far longer. It is not the fault of one president, or of one party. But it is alarming to see the leaders of the opposition behave as if this president is not even there– at best.

Now is the time for Americans to look beyond politics.

We must look toward prayer, which can unite us and remind us that there is a higher power and a higher moral code by which our actions today will be judged. And we must — however we can — help each other: through innovation, through service, through being as brave as we can for our children, for doing our usual work as best we can despite astonishing obstacles.

We can do it. Let’s pull together.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.