A person is swabbed at a COVID-19 testing site on Times Square in New York, the United States, Jan. 9, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

"The United States today is, once again, headed for civil war, and, once again, it cannot bear to face it. The political problems are both structural and immediate, the crisis both longstanding and accelerating. The American political system has become so overwhelmed by anger that even the most basic tasks of government are increasingly impossible," said Stephen Marche, author of the book "The Next Civil War."

by Xinhua writer Sun Yi

BEIJING, Jan. 18  -- Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has recorded over 65 million confirmed cases and 850,000 related deaths, both ranking the first in the world, according to statistics released by Johns Hopkins University on Monday.

In a country considered the most developed in the world with a leading health care system, the government's botched COVID-19 response is yet another testament to the dysfunction of U.S. democracy.

DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM IN TROUBLE AGAIN

In an article published on Jan. 4 on the website of The Guardian newspaper, Stephen Marche, author of the book "The Next Civil War," warned that the next U.S. civil war is already here -- "we just refuse to see it."

"The United States today is, once again, headed for civil war, and, once again, it cannot bear to face it. The political problems are both structural and immediate, the crisis both longstanding and accelerating. The American political system has become so overwhelmed by anger that even the most basic tasks of government are increasingly impossible," said Marche.