1. It’s Thursday, November 19, 2015.

2. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving.

3. Right now, it doesn’t seem as though Americans believe they have much reason to be thankful. They’re scared after the Paris terror attacks. They fear Syrian refugees and Mexicans. There are people who would actually vote for Donny Trump, who is so big a horse’s ass that he might win the honor as biggest horse’s ass of both the 20th and 21st centuries.

Trump’s latest idea, by the way, is that he would not rule out requiring all Muslims to register themselves for a national database. My guess is that, when Donny saw movies about World War II, he got the wrong idea about who the good guys were.

President Obama, right now, is literally on the other side of the world from the near-hysteria. He’s on a long-scheduled trip to East Asia, visiting the Philippines and Malaysia. There’s no logical reason he should come home early.

But when he gets back this weekend, he needs to channel his energy to putting down the stupidity and reassuring the rational people of the country.

He needs to tell the American people that, yes, this is a scary world but that the administration is doing all it can to ensure their safety.

He needs to remind them who is responsible for terrorism. It is not someone who prays at a mosque in Brooklyn or Detroit, any more than someone who prays at a church in Seattle or Birmingham or a synagogue in Miami or Chicago. Terrorism is the realm of the sick, the warped, those who seek legitimacy for the evil in their minds and hearts. Adam Lanza, who shot up Sandy Hook Elementary School, is as much a terrorist as Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Both should be roommates in Hell.

The president needs to insult Ted Cruz to his face. Actually, there’s a long line of people who would love to insult that rotted cetriolo to his face. Count me as one.

The president needs to remind people that, if anybody’s keeping score on terrorism, he’s the one who has taken the heat for the drone strikes that have killed suspected plotters – as well, unfortunately, of many innocent people. He’s the one who was on the hook when U.S. bombs last week successfully took out the cancer nicknamed Jihadi John who appeared on video delighting in the execution of American journalists. And yes, when Republicans promised to get the man who plotted September 11, it was President Obama who delivered.

The president needs to put his amazing communicative skills to their ultimate test. At a time when stoking fear and distrust is seen as a way to win the Iowa caucus, he needs to tell the American people that it’s time to stop cowering. It’s time to realize that victory in the war on terror is not about exclusion, but inclusion. It isn’t about making Muslims second-class citizens. It isn’t about mindlessly saying that sending U.S. troops to the deserts of the Middle East will solve everyone’s problems.

He needs to reaffirm what’s great about America. Our diversity. Our freedom. Our sense of shared values.

He needs us to know that he’s on it, as he has always been. President Obama has always said his number one job is keeping the American people safe. If we hang in there with him, we will be.