Meacham on Coronavirus: We’re in an ‘Age of Xenophobia,’ Blame Might Be Cast on a’ Group of People’

EXCERPT:

MEACHAM: "Yeah. The push and pull in our history has been between political appointees and a more professionalized civil service has come out of a progressive instinct that you actually want government to be an instrument, a competent instrument. And seems to me that my greatest anxiety, aside from the impact of the virus itself, is we’re living in an age of xenophobia. And it is not impossible to imagine a scenario where blame is cast."
HAASS: "That’s right.
MEACHAM: "On some country or group of people, if this becomes worse."
HAASS: "It's happening in Asia."