Dr. Mr. President,

I am growing tired hearing everyone debate the issue of whether or not your  administration acted quickly enough to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Whether that is a belief held by any of us or all of us, now is not the time to debate that issue. 

As such, please do not continue to give any energy to that debate.  Granted, it is doubtful you deliberately acted to delay the response. But in my experience, when a situation demands a place for blame, it is best to just own it. 

My words might be, “If I knew what I know now, I may have acted differently. But that’s how it went, and now all of my energy is focused on making sure Americans are safe.” That would end it. Immediately.

It is presumptuous of me to assume the pressures you are dealing with throughout this situation, or that anyone’s actions could have resulted in different results. However, continuing to defend the steps you have taken just fuels discontent and distrust.

A lot of us are watching your nightly briefings. You’re the only one who can speak for us as a nation. I’d rather it not be a debate over what has happened, and instead an opportunity to rally around what we all can do to bring this to an end.

Respectfully,

Mike Haynes