In his inaugural address , US President Donald Trump said: “For too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealised potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” To stop the carnage, Trump cut taxes and started a trade war with China that has escalated to fever pitch ahead of the November presidential election. As Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi puts it : “It seems as if every Chinese investment is politically driven, every Chinese student is a spy and every cooperation initiative is a scheme with a hidden agenda.” Yet the strongest nation in the world, with the best technology, medical and managerial skills, is braced for its pandemic death toll to rise to almost 225,000 deaths by November 1, according to forecasts as of Friday by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The model ranges from just under 200,000 deaths if 95 per cent of the population wear masks vs nearly 300,000 if lockdown mandates are eased. A death toll of 200,000-300,000 is carnage by any definition. Political scientist and World Values Survey director Ronald Inglehart argued that economic and physical insecurity is “conducive to xenophobia, strong in-group solidarity, authoritarian politics and rigid adherence to their group’s traditional cultural norms”. This explains why wearing a mask in the US is a political issue. The consequences of unmasked young people mixing freely after Memorial Day are evident: with crowded hospitals and further lockdowns delaying economic recovery. As the world’s largest economy loses control of the pandemic, a global tragedy unfolds, with a longer economic depression, rising unemployment , declining trade , and shrinking monetary and fiscal space to combat crises. Rational solutions and policies cannot work when people are blinded by the pandemic’s growing emotional trauma, and opposing sides are polarised by deep emotion on many cultural and political values. This once-in-a-century pandemic has woken us to the primal fear that survival is precarious. The response is emotional, not rational. First, the pandemic and recession are global problems no single nation can solve. No global consensus can be achieved with US-China tensions at their worst in years . In every nation, there is huge polarisation on many domestic issues, except on blaming outsiders and foreigners. Second, many domestic grievances stem from globalisation. For years, technology and a push for global supply chains have cut middle-class jobs in rich countries. The standard policy solution of cutting taxes for the rich and increasing welfare for the underprivileged leaves the middle classes feeling that they pay the most tax, get none of the benefits, and have less job security. Little wonder the demand for populist change. Will the post-pandemic world be more inclusive? The choice is ours Third, while technology and better management or governance using big data and artificial intelligence are the right way forward, the winner-takes-all effects have worsened social divides. The West cannot allow Huawei to win on 5G because it would lose the products, business and jobs from 5G spin-offs. Better online technology actually destroys many offline jobs, with huge costs involved in retraining and reskilling the work force. All these point to Big Government and Big Tech in the post-Covid-19 world. Who and how to manage Big Government and Big Tech to deliver better health, good jobs, balance with nature, and world peace are the core concerns. But the polarisation of views along race, religion, culture, class and generation means the struggle is becoming more strident and emotional, bordering on violence. The options are fight, flight or cooperation. Flight is increasingly difficult in a crowded world as rich economies close their borders. There is also a real worry that governments will capitalise on the fight impulse to escalate the arms race, bringing nuclear Armageddon closer. Global cooperation is the rational option, but cannot be achieved when everyone with a different view is emotionally attacked, inviting retaliation and escalation of tensions. Rational or scientific views cannot prevail when everyone is emotionally traumatised. This is why the American carnage is a real global tragedy. National security is taking precedence over economic logic. When the leading economy and military power feels vulnerable and insecure, there can be no global peace. Those outside the US know that ahead of the November elections, emotions will run high everywhere. Poet Rudyard Kipling said: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you… And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says… ‘Hold on!’” In these times, holding on is also a victory. We need to hold on with cool heads and warm hearts, not hot heads and burning lungs. Andrew Sheng writes on global issues from an Asian perspective. The views expressed here are solely his