COVID should have been a slam-dunk country-uniting event, like 9/11. I didn't like GWB at all, but he and his staff managed to (briefly) unite Americans and get us all working in one basic direction[1]. If we actually had a respectable statesman in charge when COVID hit, we might have actually all come together to do the right thing. But, instead we had a belligerent clown who wasted no time before making it partisan and urging defiance and division. Absolute tragedy.

1: Unfortunately, that direction was a series of ridiculous overseas wars, but that's besides the point.