Romney Calls Trump’s Pandemic Leadership a ‘Great Human Tragedy’

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room” that President Donald Trump’s leadership through the coronavirus pandemic had been “a great human tragedy.”

Anchor Wolf Blitzer said, “Yesterday on the coronavirus, it was the single deadliest day of the pandemic. More than 2,800 Americans were reported dead just yesterday alone, more than 100,000 people are hospitalized all across the country. The CDC director says the next three months will be, in his words, the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation. So here is the question, Senator, where is the president’s leadership? He’s obsessed with everything else, not with this.”

Romney said, “Well, this hasn’t been the focus of his rhetoric, apparently. And I think it’s a great human tragedy, without question. The extraordinary loss of life is heartbreaking. And in some respects, unnecessary. Not in all respects, but we’ve relaxed our standards as individuals. Some states haven’t had mask mandates, and from Washington, we’ve not had a constant, consistent plan and plea for people to wear masks, to social distance, to take all the measures that would reduce the spread of this disease. It’s unfortunate that this became a political issue. It’s not political. This is public health. And, unfortunately, we have not made that message clear enough to the American people. And people are dying because of it.”

He added, “Unless you take this very, very seriously and communicate that this is not a political matter, this is not a matter of liberty, this is a matter of safety and public health. And we have people who are very, very sick, many people in the hospital. We have people who have died and are dying. It’s unacceptable.”

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