President Trump called his predecessor “grossly incompetent” for telling recent graduates that the Trump administration botched its response to the coronavirus.
Former President Barack Obama delivered virtual commencement speeches Saturday to graduates at historically black colleges and universities, during which he slammed his successor’s handling of the pandemic.
“Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy — that’s how little kids think. Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way — which is why things are so screwed up,” he said.
The former president also said, “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.”
Trump, who said he had not yet heard the comments, hit back at Obama outside the White House on Sunday.
“Look, he was an incompetent president. That’s all I can say. Grossly incompetent,” he told reporters.
Other members of the Trump administration also responded to Obama’s comments on Sunday morning shows, including White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who joked during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he’s glad the former president has a “new job” as press secretary for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“I’m glad Mr. Obama has a new job as Joe Biden’s press secretary,” Navarro said. “As far as I’m concerned, his administration was a kumbaya of incompetence in which we saw millions of manufacturing jobs go off to China.”
