Editor,

This is in response to a letter by Mr. Ed Hickey that appeared in the Whidbey News-Times on Wednesday, April 18, “Name one Democrat who demonstrated leadership” during the pandemic. He closes his letter, “In President Trump we have a leader who is sincerely trying to make things better and without any assistance from Democrats …”

What, what, what? Any Democrat now serving in the U.S House or Senate, serving as a governor of a state, such as the honorable Jay Inslee, mayor of a town, county commissioner, school board member, child of a Democrat, pet of a Democrat, would have done better by simply putting the country’s interest first, not his own personal interest.

Long before the pandemic, Trump eliminated the very government agency designed to address it. From the beginning, he tried to downplay it, treating it as a public relations emergency rather than a potentially catastrophic health issue. Not only did Trump and the Republicans not address the issue in a timely manner, they still are not, but they exacerbated the pandemic by repeatedly violating the physician’s creed to first do no harm.

All Trump had to do, needs to do now, is convene the experts, in an objective, utilitarian manner, develop a national plan, and then stand aside, the latter the most salient point. He is the worst kind of leader; self-serving, self-dealing, self-aggrandizing, corrupt, ignorant, ignorant, ignorant.

What he doesn’t know, what he doesn’t do, is killing us.

Steven V. Horton

Langley