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The United States can and should “go big” to fight the coronavirus. It has done so before, at extraordinary speed and scale. It has tools like the Defense Production Act to help do it again. And it can be transformative: The industrial mobilization during World War II had a military purpose but lasting economic and social effects, helping build the foundation for a remarkable era of postwar prosperity. To get it right, we must understand how it worked, where it fell short and what the nation needs to mobilize again. (Margaret O'Mara, 3/18)

Probably for most of us, the coronavirus crisis will soon enough—Six months? A year?—recede in our minds and come to seem like a hallucinatory moment. Maybe it will be like a hurricane that forced everyone to rush inland and then only glanced the coast. Or maybe it will be like a hurricane that really does hit. Even then, human nature being what it is, most people will clean up and move on. Yet no matter how the coronavirus pandemic passes, or how quickly, there is likely in these strange housebound weeks a new political epoch being born. (John F. Harris, 3/18)

So our question for today is: What is the appropriate attitude toward Donald Trump in a time of national crisis? A) Rally around the president. B) Tell your friends about the pandemic response team he dismantled. C) Put your head down and watch 200 repeats of “Modern Family.” Come on, get your head up. I know this is tough. It’s definitely a time for Americans to come together. On the other hand, complaining about Trump is sort of … our way of life. (Collins, 3/18)

During national crises, we count on presidents to rise to the occasion, to mobilize and galvanize, and to lift us from our fears. Think of the fireside chats that Franklin Roosevelt held during the Great Depression and World War Two, the promise by John Kennedy to land Americans on the moon despite the staggering risk, and the stirring address that Ronald Reagan gave the country after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. These moments have tested and measured our ability to do bold things. So it is worth enshrining the actions of Donald Trump since the outbreak of the coronavirus. (Steve Israel, 3/18)

China is promoting a propaganda narrative that its authoritarian system is uniquely capable of curbing the coronavirus, in contrast to the chaotic response of Europe and the United States. Nevermind that the virus began in Wuhan and spread because Communist Party officials suppressed whistle-blowers. Beijing’s new storyline stresses that its draconian lockdown of tens of millions of its people (and ability to build new 1,000-bed hospitals in 10 days) was able to control the virus, even as new cases are soaring in America. (Trudy Rubin, 3/18)

It may soon be time for the U.S. to take an unprecedented step and waive the costs of treatment for the new coronavirus, for everyone. Where it stands: Insurers have already waived the cost of testing for many patients. But if hospitals are deluged with coronavirus cases, as expected, it may also be time to look at the substantially higher cost of treatment. (Drew Altman, 3/19)

The United States is facing what could become the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. We must therefore take immediate, large-scale, once-in-a-century action to protect our public health and our economy. (Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), 3/18)

Like Zombies emerging from the mist, leaders of the much-maligned Deep State are shedding their anonymity as coronavirus fear grips the nation. But instead of seeking retaliation against a president who has mocked and belittled them for political expediency, the scientists and doctors and researchers and diplomats now moving to the fore are trying to save Donald Trump from himself — and just might save his presidency. The spreading contagion is teaching Trump a bitter lesson: When you’re confronting what some pathologists warn could become the worst health crisis in a century, you need experts on your side. (James Rosen, 3/18)

[T]he United States has failed to adopt necessary measures that have, in other countries, stemmed the tide of an epidemic that threatens to kill over one million Americans. Such severe measures, like the nationwide lockdown imposed in France, are unpalatable in a fiercely individualistic country in which, as Tocqueville observed nearly two centuries ago, commerce is king. (Jerome Karabel, 3/18)

The coronavirus emergency is fast transforming into one of the gravest political and societal challenges of the modern age -- and America's leaders are only just beginning to understand the gargantuan task before them. The longer-term realities are setting in for Americans amid calls for a World War II-style national mobilization to fight the pandemic. And the deeply concerned politicians charged with fighting it are comparing the historic significance of the crisis to the 1918 influenza calamity, the Great Depression and 9/11. (Stephen Collinson, 3/18)

Writing from Italy, where the coronavirus pandemic is at its strongest, I am fully committed to taking the most draconian steps necessary to keep people physically separated until the virus dies out for lack of new hosts. My op-ed last week made clear how strongly I believe that we have to take bold, strong measures on both the public health and the economic fronts. I strongly supported the $8.3 billion bill for coronavirus actions – and I support the bill now in the Senate that will send emergency relief to many American businesses and American workers. ... Today, though, I want to suggest that President Trump create a planning team to think beyond the immediate crisis. (Newt Gingrich, 3/19)

Our way of life in this country has survived wars, economic depressions, and yes, worldwide pandemics. In colonial times, Americans overcame smallpox and yellow fever. In the 19th century, we weathered horrific outbreaks of cholera and scarlet fever. In the 20th century, there was the Spanish flu, typhoid fever, polio, measles, and human immunodeficiency virus, which all caused enormous human suffering but failed to break the spirit of Americans. (Jenna Ellis, 3/18)

The social distancing required to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on our globalized and consumption-based, service-oriented economy. Across the nation, businesses large and small are closing to minimize contact between people. Over the long term, we will need to make significant investments to aid recovery, but in the near term, we need to provide direct relief to all Americans. (Andrew Foster, 3/18)

With the nation on the brink of total shutdown, the stock market wiping out years of accumulated wealth and millions of Americans worried about losing their jobs, I’ve lost all patience with the spitefulness of the political class. Maybe it’s asking too much, but in times of crisis I expect leaders to lead, not fight. I’d like to know that guiding the nation through its gravest threat since 9/11 is a higher priority than toting the partisan flag. I want those who have been chosen to lead to realize their constituents are frightened and uncertain of the future, and getting them safely through this dark hour demands that they present a united front. Mostly, I’m looking for them to tell America that together we can defeat this challenge, as we’ve defeated all others that have come before. That’s not the course taken Tuesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and President Donald Trump, who were at each other’s throats as if it were still 2019. (Nolan Finley, 3/18)

As North Carolina races to slow the coronavirus outbreak, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest is trying to upend the effort by disputing Gov. Cooper’s authority to order that bars and restaurants shut down. Here’s a COVID-19 order just for Dan Forest: Hush. In a news release Tuesday afternoon, Forest said Cooper lacked the authority to order bars to close and restaurants to shut down their dining rooms. Earlier in the day, Cooper had issued the order, which allowed for restaurant takeout and delivery, starting at 5 p.m. Forest, a Republican, is running to unseat Cooper, a Democrat, in November’s election. (3/18)