Following President Trump’s announcement that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, Sen. Kelly Loeffler laid the blame squarely on China.
“Remember: China gave this virus to our President @realDonaldTrump and First Lady @FLOTUS. WE MUST HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE,” the Georgia Republican tweeted Friday morning.
Remember: China gave this virus to our President @realDonaldTrump and First Lady @FLOTUS.
WE MUST HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.
— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) October 2, 2020
Trump announced that he and the first lady had both tested positive for COVID-19 early Friday morning. Since then, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel have also announced positive test results. White House adviser Hope Hicks, too, has contracted the coronavirus.
The tweet was roundly criticized on Twitter. CNN’s Joe Lockhart called the tweet “an astonishing example of the descent of the Republican party.” Defense One Executive Editor Kevin Baron tweeted in response that “the chain from Wuhan to the White House is about 11 months and many, many, many, many bad decisions long.”
Loeffler is not alone in her continued criticism of China and its handling of the coronavirus. The president himself continues to refer to the coronavirus as the “China virus” and blamed China repeatedly during the first presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden. “It’s China’s fault,” the president said. “It never should have happened.”
The coronavirus outbreak has been traced back to Wuhan, a city in China.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday criticized Trump’s attitude toward safety precautions against the coronavirus leading up to his diagnosis, calling his actions “a brazen invitation” to spread it. “This is tragic. It’s very sad. But it is also something that — again, going into crowds unmasked and all the rest is sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen,” the California Democrat said.
