Joseph Sabino Mistick: The leader we need

Mr. President, people need your help right now. This is not the time for you to remind us how you “cut off” China at the end of January or how “people are surprised” that you understand the medical issues surrounding the pandemic. You are constantly trying to play catch-up, instead of focusing on the present.

If you want to help us, there are some things you should stop doing and some things that we need you to do.

Stop telling average Americans that an unproven medicine is a potential “game changer.” Many of them are desperate for a cure. When you say things like that, they believe you because they believe in you. They deserve better, especially since we are discovering that some untested treatments are deadly.

Stop inciting our fellow citizens to “liberate” their states. That sounds like a call to arms, and we do not need that kind of talk. It plays on the legitimate fears of many of our fellow Americans who are rightfully frightened of the total collapse of our economy. Playing on their fear does not help.

Stop attacking our governors and anyone who disagrees with you. This is not about that. Governors are in charge of the health, safety and welfare of their citizens, and you have great powers, too. And maybe you can stop calling reporters nasty names when they challenge your version of any event, because that has lost its zip.

Stop saying that we have tested more people than any country in the world and that there is no shortage of protective gear. Everybody knows that adequate testing is relative to the size of a country’s population, and we are still way behind if we want to reopen safely. And if you ask nurses or physicians or first responders, they will tell the real story about the lack of lifesaving protective gear.

The worst thing for any leader is to become irrelevant, but you can stop that slide. We need a strong president now, and there are plenty of things that you can do.

Start listening to the smart people around you when it comes to science. Let Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx take the lead here.

Make small-business loans available to actual small businesses. Well-connected big businesses jumped the line on those funds as usual. We will have gained little if they survive and Main Street collapses.

Fight for those small businesses that have learned that business interruption insurance does not apply now that their business has actually been interrupted. Subsidize the insurers or order the attorney general to fight them — either way. But get the small businesses paid first.

Create a rent relief program for landlords in working-class neighborhoods. Tenants can’t pay now, and nobody benefits if the landlords go under. And use the full force of your regulatory powers to buy some time for those who are struggling to pay their mortgage.

This would be a start. So, please, Mr. President, do the real work. But, if all of this is too much, at least stay out of the way.