We are enmeshed in a global health crisis the likes of which very few of us ever have witnessed.

The last global pandemic to sweep the planet occurred while the nation was fighting World War I and, yes, there are a small number of centenarians who have a fleeting memory of the measles pandemic that killed millions of Americans.

Still, we also are facing a presidential election near the end of this year. I am trying the best I can to look ahead without taking my eye off the current crisis that has killed nearly 70,000 Americans.

I am longing for a return to a time when I can look with respect at the president of the United States. The current president never has won my trust, so it is difficult to say he “lost” my trust during this crisis, given that there was no trust for Donald Trump to lose in the first place.

I want to be crystal clear. When I refer to “respect for the president,” I refer only to the individual who holds the office. I continue to revere the presidency. The office commands all our respect. However, when I look at the individual sitting in the office — now that he has demonstrated beyond all manner of doubt his unfitness for that office — I am filled with horror and dread.

The juxtaposition of the coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming election only pulls the two events into sharp relief.

Trump had the opportunity to rise to the level of a leader. He could have executed his duties as comforter, consoler, unifier. He has failed miserably on all three and then some! He casts the health crisis almost solely in economic terms, hoping for all he’s worth that the economy will rebound in time for Trump to reap some political reward.

This con man/carnival barker/charlatan/fraud offers next to zero words of comfort to those who suffer. Listen to his comments about how “no one is more concerned about the death” than he is; listen to him follow that with the very next sentence that says “by the same token, we have to worry” about the economy.

This guy sickens me.

I want the next election to give us a leader who can behave with dignity and grace. It looks as though Joe Biden will be Trump’s foe this fall. Fine. I’m all in … now! I wasn’t in the beginning of this campaign, but given what we are witnessing from the Liar in Chief, I most certainly have become what you might call a Bidenista.

Those critics of this blog will laugh with scorn at what I will say next, but … whatever. I am truly weary of speaking so ill of the president. I want to be able to speak with high praise of the individual who serves as our head of state.

The current individual just can’t cut it. Nor will he ever cut it.