Former US president Barack Obama has attacked the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, describing it as an “absolute chaotic disaster”.
Key points:
- More than 78,400 people in the US have died of COVID-19
- Barack Obama says Donald Trump has responded to the pandemic with a “what’s in it for me?” attitude
- Mr Trump has consistently defended his response to the virus
Mr Obama made the comments during a conference call with 3,000 former members of his administration.
He said the United States’ current situation was a reminder of why strong government was important and urged all Democrats to become actively engaged with Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
Mr Obama said this year’s US election was not just a fight against an individual or a party, but a battle against long-term trends that had seen the nation become more divided.
Mr Obama added that the pandemic would have been difficult for any administration but the Trump White House had approached it with a “what’s in it for me?” attitude.
More than 78,400 people in the US have died of COVID-19 and more than 1.3 million people have tested positive, according to the latest estimates from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
This chart uses a logarithmic scale to highlight coronavirus growth rates. Read our explainer to understand what that means and what we can learn from countries that have slowed the spread.
“What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy that has become a stronger impulse in American life,” Mr Obama said.
“And, by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well. It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anaemic and spotty.
“It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of ‘what’s in it for me?’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ when that mindset is operationalised in our Government,” he said.
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Mr Trump has consistently defended and boasted of his response to the virus, saying travel restrictions imposed on people coming from China and Europe, as well as social-distancing guidelines, have prevented far greater damage.
“I think we saved millions of lives,” he said earlier this week.
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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not mention Mr Obama directly in her response to his remarks.
“President Trump’s coronavirus response has been unprecedented and saved American lives,” she said.
“While Democrats were pursuing a sham witch hunt against President Trump, President Trump was shutting down travel from China.”
She added: “While Democrats encouraged mass gatherings, President Trump was deploying PPE, ventilators, and testing across the country.”
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