But now we are at war with a virus. More than 600,000 Americans have died. That’s 200,000 more than died in World War II. We need to treat deliberate disinformation for what it is: a betrayal of the American public.

In the 1930’s, in the name of free speech, this country tolerated the German-American Bund and the Silver Legion, even as they spread the lies that Hitler was America’s friend, that Naziism would save the world from communism, that F.D.R. was controlled by Jews and that George Washington was our “First Fascist.”

But when Americans actually began dying in the fight against Hitler, the nation’s patience ended. The leaders were investigated, their financial frauds exposed. The Legion’s founder was imprisoned, the Bund’s founder was deported to Germany. Newspapers didn’t do that, Facebook can’t do that. Only governments can do that.

President Trump never hesitated to use the full power of his office to punish his enemies, pardon his cronies, and re-assure his own re-election. Happily, he also spent $11 billion to make some of the most amazing vaccines the world has ever seen (for which he deserves credit even if he appears oddly ashamed of them.)