White House hopefuls target Trump
His delayed response to Covid-19 outbreak proves his incompetence
Charleston (US), Feb. 28: Democratic White House hopefuls are seizing on President Donald Trump’s delayed response to the Covid-19 outbreak, calling it the latest evidence of his incompetence and warning that the crisis may only deepen as a result.
But some experts and Democrats warn that the candidates risk exacerbating a public health crisis if they go too far in politicising the virus that causes the Covid-19 illness.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, former New
York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar all went after Trump during their CNN town halls Wednesday night.
A number of the candidates have released their own pandemic policies, and Bloomberg is even airing an ad contrasting Trump’s response to the outbreak to his own handling of the aftermath of 9/11.
It’s a potent political issue, as it gets at what Democrats see as two major potential weaknesses for Trump: questions about his competence as president and health care issues.
“The threat from Covid19
and the chaos of the administration is front and center in everyone’s mind,” said Jesse Ferguson, a longtime Democratic strategist and former spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Warren, Klobuchar and Bloomberg have all released public health plans detailing how they’d address and prevent similar outbreaks as president.
During their CNN town halls, Warren warned that the economic impact of the new Covid-19 could get worse. She and Klobuchar slammed Trump’s decision to put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the Covid-19 response, noting his controversial handling of an HIV outbreak in Indiana when he was governor.
Biden has previously slammed Trump for hysterical xenophobia and fearmongering rather than respecting science on the issue.
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, another 2020 Democratic hopeful, issued a statement on Thursday night calling for Trump to allow her state to buy Covid-19 testing kits from Japan.
She said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was failing to provide them. As an island state, with responsible leadership, we can keep this virus out. But, we won’t be able to do that without our state and federal leaders taking it much more seriously than they are right now.