If I had been Donald Trump in January 2020 and wanted to get re-elected, I believe I would have had the sure-fire method to succeed.

This is what I would have done:

As soon as I had heard about the problems in China, I would have contacted my ambassador in China and pulled out all the stops to investigate with the Chinese about what they knew, what they were doing about it, and what the United States could learn from them.

I would have immediately gone to the shelf where Obama’s pandemic response manual was lingering, pulled it out, and read through it personally.

Call every one of the “Obama Pandemic Response Team” that worked in the White House that was fired in 2018 and brought back as many of those as possible, if available.

Call Dr. Fauci and asked him to pull together the nation’s 20 (or more) top epidemic experts as a special White House advisory board. I would have directed Dr. Fauci to expeditiously establish an emergency plan and act on it.

Invoke the 1950 Defense Production Act and started creating PPE.

Establish a national strategy and response team, not consisting of my relatives, but the best logistical minds in the CDC and give them carte-blanche to establish a response plan and execute it.

Ordered the response team to give daily briefings from the White House. I would have sat in the sidelines just being there reassuring everyone I was supporting the effort.

Not have tolerated any misinformation, hiding information, and making things look good. I would simply have responded to the facts at hand as they occurred, as quickly and as transparently as possible.

Not have blamed the Chinese, even though the virus originated there. I would have realized that the next virus could come from the United States or any other nation.

Worked with the WHO to help educate nations about how to detect and contain initial outbreaks for future diseases.

Asked Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell to come up with working proposals to help the American unemployed, businesses, and the health care community.

Shown empathy for the dead and reassured the public that I cared and that every life mattered.

Stayed out of the way and let all the experts do their work.

I would have asked the country to help me get this done and definitely not made this about me.

My re-election would have been assured. Sorry, Joe Biden, but I got this.