On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Biden Campaign Senior Adviser Symone Sanders said that while some of what President Trump said during that day’s coronavirus briefing was good, he also referred to the coronavirus by “a racial slur.”
Sanders said, “Testing is still a real issue. We were happy to see the Trump administration and the president come out to the podium today and enact a number of sweeping changes. But the reality is, we have to ensure that we are doing what’s best for the American people. That means testing. That means being as innovative and creative as we can. But that also means being transparent.”
She added, “[I]f the Trump administration is getting the number of tests out that they said are going to get out, then that is amazing. But the reality is, we have not seen the tests that the Trump administration promised in the field and we have not seen those results yet. Now, results could be coming. … And some of what he said today was good. But the reality is, he also stood at the podium and called the coronavirus, COVID-19, what I would suggest is a racial slur.”
Host Martha MacCallum then mentioned Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as an example of a disease that is named after where it originated and also brought up China’s obfuscation on the virus.
Sanders responded that China refused to let American scientists in to research the virus, but maintained that Trump’s name for the virus is “offensive” and that testing and informing the public are the key issues.
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