Editor’s note: The original version of this article stated that Joe Biden had said “America’s Dead” during a campaign speech. In reality, Biden said “Americans dead” in reference to the number of deaths caused by COVID-19. The incorrect references have been removed. The amended article continues below.

Joe Biden is running a campaign based on the principle that this presidential election is a referendum on President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Team Biden has put all its eggs into one basket – Americans are dying because Trump has botched the response to the virus. To hear Joe Biden speak, it is as though Trump has the power to flip a switch and the highly contagious, deadly virus will just magically disappear. Instead, he’s left America in the dark.

Biden’s America is a very dark place. At least half of the country is populated with racist chumps, ugly people, labeled as such simply for voting for Donald Trump in 2016, according to Joe Biden. During the final presidential debate, Biden told the audience that “We’re about to go into a dark winter. A dark winter.” He was talking about the president’s plan for the coronavirus as we move forward in the coming months. Biden’s message is one of doom and gloom. In comparison, Trump’s message is meant to be an uplifting one, a message that will inspire voters. He frequently tells rally audiences that the best is yet to come.

The latest economic numbers point to a ‘V’ shaped economic recovery. Just as the economy was roaring before the pandemic came into our lives, the recovery is going at a remarkable pace if the current numbers hold up. The only reason Joe Biden is competitive in this race is that the economy was locked down in order to mitigate the virus back in March. Trump held off doing that as long as he could because he knew what the results would be. He tried to remain optimistic to slow the panic that was setting in. I’ll take a leader that keeps a stiff upper lip and tells Americans that we will get through this over a man who succumbs to alarmism and defeat any day. Most Americans have a can-do spirit, not a cower in the basement attitude.

Our lives are different, thanks to the plague, but that doesn’t mean we quit living. We adjust. The most vulnerable must be protected while more healthy people are able to take informed risks. There are safety guidelines in place and we’ve been educated about protecting ourselves and those around us.

The medical community is sending up red flags as we enter the winter months. The coronavirus is going to merge with the traditional cold and flu season. Joe Biden is open to shutting the whole country down again and open to a national mask mandate, likely illegal. Dr. Fauci is cheering Joe Biden on with that. Fauci says we may not return to normalcy until 2022. He says that mitigation guidelines will need to stay in place throughout 2021, even with a vaccine becoming available.

“I can foresee that even with a really good vaccine, that mask wearing will continue well into the third or fourth quarter of 2021,” Fauci said in an interview with National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.

And only after that, “there will be a graded, gradual progression toward normalcy” in 2022, he said in the half-hour interview.

“We’ve got a long road yet to go,” Collins agreed.

Fauci laid out his most thorough timeline for recovery yet as the U.S. continues to see 70,000 new COVID-19 cases and some 800 deaths a day.

The good news is that right now, more than 100,000 Americans are participating in six promising, final-stage vaccine trials, with Moderna and Pfizer closest to the finish line, Fauci said.

Other liberals in the medical community are sounding alarmed as coronavirus cases begin to rise in places where it looked like the spread of the virus was plateauing and declining. Death rates and hospitalization rates have declined in many hot spots. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospitals Center for Vaccine Development, is a Trump critic who spoke about the rise in coronavirus cases in some areas in the United States as well as in Texas this week.

It’s really accelerating up in the northern Midwest — Wisconsin, especially, and the Dakotas — and also in western states like Wyoming and Utah. A lot of it is probably linked to colder weather. People are indoors, and the virus survives really well in that environment. It could be that not only are more people exposed to the virus indoors, but that they’re exposed to a larger inoculum of the virus as well. I think we’ll start seeing hospitalizations go up — not only the number of cases, but severity of cases as well.

I was a bit surprised about El Paso and along the border with Mexico into New Mexico — Las Cruces, places like that. I’m not surprised that there’s a lot of COVID there. I’m just surprised that it’s happening now. I don’t know quite what’s happened there and what that means for the rest of Texas.

In Houston, the numbers are going up but not dramatically, not nearly as badly as for the rest of the country. It may be because now the weather’s nice and people are outside.

I know the numbers will increase in Texas. They’ll accelerate. My secret hope is that it’s not going to be as bad as the rest of the country, but I just don’t know that for certain.

He admits he just doesn’t have any concrete answers about what comes next. The truth is none of us do, and that includes President Trump and Joe Biden. Will the coronavirus die off eventually and become like a revved-up form of the flu? Will it be eviscerated by a vaccine? No one knows with complete certainty. This is why so many people are not comfortable when they hear political candidates point a finger at Trump and blame him for all the deaths of coronavirus patients. Some unhinged Democrats accuse him of being a murderer. Election season can bring out the worst in people.

Biden likes to say that Trump has waved the white flag and surrendered to his lack of control over the virus. Results show another story, though. The economy is coming back, thanks to his administration’s dedication and policies. Trump rallied the medical community with unprecedented speed as he freed them up to develop a vaccine and therapeutic drugs. He empowered manufacturing companies to produce medical equipment and supplies. He’s shown leadership when it was needed. He is criticized for not being diligent about wearing a mask. I get it. I mask-up when I’m in public. The debate about masks will continue. In the meantime, which candidate inspires voters? I’ll take a balanced, optimistic approach over doom and gloom.