The Right Way to Fight the Pandemic
Bradley Moore, American Renaissance, March 20, 2020
“There are times when the world is rearranging itself,” says a character in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, “and at times like that, the right words can change the world.” Who has the right words?
Politicians such as Emmanuel Macron who once lectured us about open borders are closing them, but one man who has been consistent is Hungary’s Viktor Orban. When he closed the country’s borders, he closed the universities. “There are lots of foreigners there,” he said. “Our experience is that primarily foreigners brought in the disease, and that it is spreading among foreigners.”
Many people are using war rhetoric. President Trump said he is a “wartime president.” President Macron said France is at “war.” An Italian doctor said the situation is “like a war.” Viktor Orban calls it a “two-front war.” “One front is called migration,” he said, “and the other one belongs to the coronavirus, there is a logical connection between the two, as both spread with movement.”
He’s right. His swift action has probably saved many Hungarian lives. Enoch Powell said statesmanship was avoiding “preventable evils.” Mr. Orban is a statesman. His government is avoiding problems because it’s not crippled by egalitarian, multicultural ideology. “We don’t agree with those who say ‘multiculturalism is by definition good,’” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said two years ago in an interview that is still popular.
Viktor Orban speaks at a forum in Budapest, pledging government assistance to economic players who suffer losses due to the novel coronavirus. (Credit Image: © Attila Volgyi/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)
President Donald Trump’s position is more difficult. He must save the economy and hold together a multicultural empire, all while facing hostile media. He imposed travel restrictions on China in late January. The Chinese government and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden called the decision racist. Bernie Sanders had vowed to reverse “every single thing” the Trump Administration did to “demonize and harm immigrants” just days earlier. Today, President Trump’s response seems too mild.
This is a crisis, but also an opportunity. Mr. Trump is right that the virus came from China and that it should be called what it is. He’s was right to impose restrictions on travel from Europe. He was right to defy experts who said those policies wouldn’t work.
President Trump should stick with the core message he preached ever since he came down the escalator in June 2015. America, and Americans, come first. President Trump can look to Hungary for inspiration. Fighting this “war” requires force, and that means defending borders, refusing migrants, making unilateral decisions, and exercising executive power. Many journalists call President Trump an “authoritarian” anyway. If this be authoritarianism, make the most of it.
