Two articles worth a read in their entirety, excerpts follow:

Trump reveals our staggering incompetence before the whole world

by Heather Digby Parton / Salon April 27, 2020

...Now the country that sent men to the moon and brought them home again, all the way back in the 1960s, is a fumbling mess, unable to manage the simple logistics of getting supplies from one place to another or coordinating a national set of guidelines in a public health crisis...

Donald Trump is a completely incompetent leader — we know this. Literally any other president would have done a better job.

But it’s not just him, is it? The U.S. government seems to have lost its capacity to act, and the private sector is so invested in short-term profit-making that it’s lost its innovative edge. The result is that the United States of America, formerly the world’s leader in science and technology, now only leads the world in gruesome statistics and body counts.

The country that planned the D-Day invasion is incapable of coordinating the delivery of medical supplies to New York City? Apparently so.

https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/trump-reveals-our-staggering-incompetence-before-the-whole-world/

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Trump and the coronavirus have exposed America as a declining empire: Time to face the facts.

by Andrew O'Hehir, April 26, 2020 5:08PM (UTC)

...It isn't just that the U.S. response to the pandemic has been among the worst of any major nation — OK, let's make that clearly the worst — utterly bereft of coherent national leadership. With barely 4% of the world's population, the U.S. has by far the largest share of COVID-19 cases and deaths, and is apparently about to risk a second upward spike in both statistics.

...our dysfunctional government has flung billions at big corporations and one monthly paycheck at regular folks, followed by the stupidest and starkest form of social-Darwinist choice: Go broke or risk your life.

...one thing is for sure: We need to stop pretending that America after the coronavirus, and after the Trump presidency, will be the same kind of nation it was before, with the same role of more-or-less unquestioned global dominance. We have deluded ourselves far too long on that front already. There is no making America great again, and it's time to move past that. But there's a real chance to make a better future for this country and the world.

https://www.salon.com/2020/04/26/trump-and-the-coronavirus-have-exposed-america-as-a-declining-empire-lets-face-that-honestly/