Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders mocked President Trump during the latest debate for saying that the spread of the new coronavirus strain would come to an end in two months.
“In the White House today, we have a self-described great genius — self-described — and this great genius has told us that this coronavirus is going to end in two months,” Sanders said Tuesday night. “April is the magical date that this great scientist we have in the White House has determined — I wish I was kidding. That is what he said.”
Sanders appeared to refer to Trump’s comments this month in which he said: “Now, the virus that we’re talking about having to do — you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.” Sanders also referred to the term “very stable genius,” which Trump has used to described himself when his critics have raised questions about this mental health.
Congressional Democrats have slammed the White House’s response to the coronavirus, particularly as it continues to spread to other parts of the world and as fears that the virus can’t be contained ripple across the economy. On Tuesday, a top health official warned that it was likely the virus would spread within communities here and that “disruption to everyday life might be severe.”
The Trump administration has requested $2.5 billion from Congress to fund the effort, which will help stockpile masks and ventilators. Democratic presidential candidates slammed Trump on the debate stage for requesting budget cuts to public health agencies, though those cuts never made it past Congress.
Joe Biden touted his work against Ebola when he was part of the Obama administration, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar avoided a question from the moderators about whether she would impose travel bans if she were to be elected president and facing a pandemic.
“What we have to do is make sure we have treatment for those Americans and make sure they are in a quarantine situation,” Klobuchar said of people who get COVID-19 while they’re in another country. “We don’t want to expose those people, but we want to get them help.”
