If Trump Won’t Lead the World, Others Must

The gravest emergency to confront the U.S. in decades has fallen on the watch of a uniquely unfit president. At a time when the world should be looking to the White House for wisdom and leadership, it finds only Donald Trump’s characteristic blend of incompetence and dishonesty. His musings last week about killing the virus by ingesting disinfectant were a gift to comedians, but as always with Trump, the joke is on us.

Fortunately, many mayors and governors (though not all) have been rising to the challenge, taking action, heeding science, communicating reliable information, and collaborating with one another. In Washington, the Federal Reserve delivered prompt and comprehensive interventions to support the financial system. Even Congress, for all its dysfunction, has acted faster than its record of partisan paralysis would have suggested.