Wednesday, former Secretary of State John Kerry called into question President Donald Trump’s leadership during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of leading, Kerry suggested on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Trump is “playing out an election strategy” and “attacking governors” and members of the media in a way he said he has never seen by a president.
“Look, the truth is, and everybody in America, I think, is beginning to come to understand that this president is not leading now, he’s playing out an election strategy,” Kerry stated. “He’s more focused on getting the economy moving before all the experts say you ought to be putting people back together in close quarters again and without the adequate rules by which people will be required to behave, and certainly, without the adequate testing that other countries are doing. I think Mike Barnicle, a moment ago, listed the countries, almost 20 countries or more. I mean, most of the countries dealing with this crisis at a high level are doing better than the United States of America on testing. And the truth is, you cannot get us back to real normal. You cannot get the economy churning at the rate it wants to and needs to unless American citizens have confidence when they come back to the workplace. And they won’t today.”
He continued, “[Y]ou’re not going to fill restaurants, and you’re not going to get people out there when the medical experts are saying, you know, it’s not safe to do it yet. And the president is not heeding that. He’s not leading. The fact that he’s attacking governors, he’s attacking members of the media. I mean, these rallies that he has on TV may appeal to his base, but watching a president of the United States engage in such extraordinary behavior in direct insults to people who are just calmly sitting there asking a question is stunning. … I’ve never seen any president, Republican or Democrat alike behave like that. So, it may be entertaining as a reality show, but it has no relationship whatsoever to presidential leadership. And that’s what Americans are judging now to a greater degree.”
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