Former Sen. Al Franken said that President Trump’s response to the coronavirus has been obstructed by the president’s lack of credibility.
Franken appeared on CNN on Friday and took the chance to bash Trump over his administration’s effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the United States. Franken said that the chief asset of a leader during an emergency is “credibility” and that Trump has “none.”
“We need to be talking about Donald Trump and how awful he is as, not just a president, but as a human being,” Franken said. “Right now, we have this coronavirus. When you have a crisis like this, the strongest thing you can bring to it as a leader is credibility, and he has none.”
Trump has assigned Vice President Mike Pence to lead the administration’s efforts to combat the coronavirus in the U.S. On Friday, Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to fund efforts to fight the disease. The president urged people to “remain calm” in a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta later that day.
On people canceling travel plans because of the coronavirus, Trump said, “I think it’s fine if they want to do it.”
“I don’t think it’s an overreaction. But I wouldn’t be generally inclined to do it. I really wouldn’t be,” Trump said.
At a Feb. 28 rally in South Carolina, the president accused Democrats of using the coronavirus as a political tool to hurt him.
“Now, the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus,” Trump said. “One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax, and this is their new hoax.”
