The AP ran a story in late February in which it was clear the president was reluctant to act in response to the new coronavirus outbreak because he did not want to upset Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Post ran a story last night in which it was clear the US intelligence community warned Donald Trump that a pandemic was coming.

From December through this month, the president balked. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Americans were getting sick. Wall Street crashed. Job losses mounted. Like authoritarians of old, Trump chose to kill the messenger, not hear the message.

The Editorial Board, this newsletter, strives to make sense of all this and speak plainly about the future we face. I sit down every weekday morning to write an essay in plain English for normal people and the common good. I try to put all the details into a big coherent picture. I do this, because I believe it must be done. I can’t help myself.

This is work. It has value. Right now you are receiving free daily editions of the Editorial Board. That’s the right thing to do in the middle of a global pandemic. But please consider—right now—supporting my work. It takes only a minute or two.

You have two options. One is become a paying subscriber. For $60 a year, you get five editions a week, 20 or so a month. You can subscribe at the monthly rate, but subscribe at the annual rate and get a discount of around 20 percent. A super-duper price!

The other option is easy. Hit the tip jar and pay what you want! The downside is I’ll probably keep sending messages like this. Subscribe, though, and no more asks!

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading the Editorial Board!

—John Stoehr