Virus. Covid is the symptom, not the illness. Our nation is in crisis and in many ways, covid is a metaphor. A virus attacks when the body is weak and cannot defend itself. Covid over the past few years, americas body of politics have been weakened and the divisions have been growing deeper, the antisemitism, the antilatino, the racism and shard charlottesville where the kkk did not even wear their hoods and in minneapolis where the life was squeezed from mr. Floyd. Create thep didnt initial division. The division created trump. He only made it worse. Our collective strength is exercised through government. It is in effect our immune system, and our federal government is dysfunctional and incompetent. He couldnt fight off the virus. It didnt even see it coming. The european virusinfected the northeast while the white house was fixated on china. The virus had been attacking us for months before they knew it was here. We saw the failure of a government that tried to deny the virus, then try to ignore it, then try to politicize it. The federal government watched new york get ambushed by their negligence and watched new york suffer, but all through it learned absolutely nothing. So today, six months after it began, the nation is still unprepared and we now face a , but this time not from mother nature. This is a manmade threat by our own negligence. We now see the virus ricocheting across the country from one state to another. Today, we trail the world in defeating covid. We have over 5 million cases. Americans learned a critical lesson, how vulnerable we are when we are divided, and how many lives can be lost when our government is incompetent. We learned something else, my friends. We saw the negative but we also saw the positive, as they proved their way failed, we proved our way succeeded, america can rise to the occasion. We can put our differences aside and find commonality. Government can tell the truth and build trust. We can judge by content of character rather than color of skin, care for one another that americans can Work Together and Forge Community and a competent government. Of course, we will wear masks because we are smart and because i care about you and you care about me. Of course we will socially distance, because staying away shows how close we actually are. Up testing andt tracing and whatever we need to do to mobilize to win this battle because we are america. We win wars and we are the greatest country on the globe. For all the pain and all the tears, our way worked and it was beautiful. We showed that our better angels are strong and that americans would rise to their call. We saw that even at the end of the day, even if it is a long day, that love wins. Openedns eyes have been and we have seen in this crisis the truth, that Government Matters and leadership matters. And it determines whether we thrive and grow or whether we live or die. Now we need a leader as good as our people, a leader who appeals to the best within us, not the worst, a leader who can unify, not divide, a leader who can bring us up, not tear us down. I know that man. I have worked with that man. I have seen his talent, strength, pain, and heart. That man is joe biden. Tough,en is america tough and the best way, smart, united, disciplined, and loving. Joe biden can restore the soul of america, and that is exactly what our country needs today. Thank you. Governor whitmer i am gretchen whitmer, or as donald trump calls me, that woman from michigan