By Robert A. Vella

Imagine terrorists or a hostile foreign power detonating a nuclear bomb in a medium-sized U.S. city that instantly killed 100,000 people.  America and the world would be in an uproar and rightly so.  This Thursday, May 28th 2020, will mark exactly three months since the first COVID-19 death occurred in the U.S.  Later today, the nation’s confirmed death toll from the coronavirus pandemic will surpass 100,000 (although the actual number is undoubtedly much higher).  That’s an average of over 1,111 fatalities per day.  Are Americans shocked?  No, but they are deeply concerned.  Public outrage erupts much more violently to sudden disasters than to catastrophes which transpire over time;  however, the net effects are similar in the end.

In a word, death is carnage no matter how it was initially perceived.

Intriguingly, that’s the word President Trump used in his inauguration speech to disparage his predecessor (See: