You ready?

I was born ready.

Welcome to the Advisory Opinions Podcast. This is David French with Sarah Izger.

We have a lot of stuff to cover but in keeping with our pledge to you.

We are always going to include a non-coronavirus item.

This episode's non-coronavirus item is going to be soccer and gender discrimination.

It's actually a really fascinating topic to talk about.

We are not getting to that yet.

We are going to start with coronavirus because there is a lot in flux.

We are not going to go into the back and forth of what's happening on Capitol Hill right now.

There's a very simple reason for that.

It's entirely possible by the time you hear this podcast which takes a couple of hours to edit and upload.

The two sides that are screaming each other will have reached some kind of compromise.

But I will note that we are already beginning to see what it's like when the United States is in a state of crisis in the middle of a time of heightened polarization.

Because we are miles and miles from that moment on 9-11 when members of Congress joined hands to sing God Bless America on the Capitol steps.

This is an external threat.

Coronavirus is an external threat.

Very different from, say, al-Qaeda, of course.

But it's still, this is something that's come in from outside.

We're trying to rally to respond to and we are at each other's throats right now.

I got to say Sarah, it doesn't really surprise me.

I keep saying this.

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