Dear Reader,

I’m a bit at a loss for words this week. With a sorry response to a spreading virus sinking markets and scaring citizens, it’s hard to be optimistic. It’s easier to be confused and angry and uncertain. As a trained lawyer and former prosecutor, I felt that I had expertise during the Mueller probe and impeachment. I felt that I could assess events, even as I worried that there was a criminal in the White House and the rule of law was under attack. I had a foothold, something to grab onto. When events unfolded – like the firing of the FBI director, the arrest of the President’s personal lawyer, the disclosure of the Ukraine phone call, and so on – I could put each in perspective and stop from underreacting or overreacting. Even as we seemed to be going off the rails, I understood where the rails were, what they were made of, and how far we were deviating.

This is different, and like most of you, my own understanding of COVID-19 is at the mercy of epidemiologists and infectious disease experts inside and outside of government. My understanding of the efficacy of the government’s response is guided by my own common sense, along with what I hear politicians and policy experts saying publicly. None of my understanding is informed by a single word uttered by the President of the United States. In his stark Oval Office address yesterday, Trump botched at least three of his own main policy proposals and they had to be corrected (whether goods were banned from Europe; whether U.S. citizens could return from Europe; and whether insurance companies would waive co-payments for treatment).

I have been talking with lots of people every day about the virus and our response, including medical professionals and policy experts, and so I have formed some views on various aspects of the crisis. But for now, there are much better people to convey that kind of information.