I’m sad to report that, along with so many other issues, the pandemic is being politicized to the maximum extent possible. By way of comparison, it’s the same as a president and his opponents using an extended military conflict for political gain. When the health of the entire world is dependent on our leaders, politics should be left at the door of the conference room. There is misbehavior on both sides of the aisle.

In the case of a national emergency, the president, the commander-in-chief, must lead the country. For the most part, he or she must develop a game plan to defeat the enemy. In this case, the enemy is an infectious disease that has killed thousands of people globally.

The criticism of Trump began when the flu virus started to rampage across the world. Given that medical science was not up to the challenge, and experts didn’t have a clue about how to respond to COVID-19, the president took action to protect the country. He prevented travel to and from China and the other places that posed a threat to the US, and he tried to calm Americans.

Democrats endlessly harped on the president’s decisions. What is curious, is that the experts were not in agreement about what to do, so Trump made decisions on his own. He tried to do the things that would minimize the spread of the pandemic. Frankly, when the history books are written about this sordid situation, they probably will say there was no one who had the right answers to defeat Covid. The disease was going to take its course no matter what actions world leaders took.

Masks were not going to guarantee our health. There were not enough of them, or ventilators, because medical experts did not predict the world would need them. China reacted in their political interests and let the rest of the world down by downplaying the strength of the virus. The history books will probably say Trump did the best with what was known at the time.

This is not to say that every tactic Trump employed was strictly in the best interest of the American people. The disease arose during an election year and the politicians were yearning for an opportunity to showcase their leadership. Trump exaggerated, and Democrats tried to downplay an ongoing economic surge. The latter got their wish in the form of the coronavirus.

Fast forwarding to the present, the president was on TV this week promising to deliver a safe vaccine before the election. No surprise there. Trump may need to keep this promise to get reelected. But the proof is in the pudding. If a safe vaccine is not available, for the general public, by Election Day, Trump will probably lose to Joe Biden.

So, why are Democrats berating him for predicting that a cure is around the corner? Simply put, Democrats will do anything and say anything that hurts the president’s chances to win reelection. This includes charging the president with lying about a deliverable vaccine for everyone, not just for the most vulnerable among us.

One would think that all Americans including Democrats would do anything to benefit the well-being of the country, even if it resulted in votes for Trump. We’re talking about a disease that has the potential to kill off the entire human race. Why would a patriot be anything but helpful? Why would Trump lie about something so important that will either take place by Election Day or not?

Every day, I feel more embarrassed and ashamed by my leaders. Even to save the world from a horrible pandemic, Republicans and Democrats cannot join hands to work together to defeat the disease. After the pandemic is over, and we have our next president, voters should spend time to consider whether the losers we have as leaders should be thrown out of office.