President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak has received mixed reviews.
But, actor Dennis Quaid — who identifies as an independent — says he thinks Trump has done a good job managing the outbreak.
Quaid was discussing his new podcast “The Dennissance” with The Daily Beast which premiered on Wednesday when he addressed Trump’s response to the outbreak.
During an interview with The Daily Beast on Wednesday, Quaid said, “To tell you the truth, I think the president is handling it in a good way.”
“We see him on television every day, he’s involved, and the travel ban early on was a great idea—which he did in spite of protest about that,” he said.
When pressed on reports that the government shipped medical supplies to China in the early days of the outbreak, contributing to a depletion of the national stockpile, he argued that the government was “trying to defeat the virus at its source.”
He also argued, “The states are also responsible for having stockpiles of their own, according to their own needs.”
“You know, New York, I really feel for those people, and I think they’re doing their best to get them everything they need,” he added.
Trump has been accused of failing to give states enough medical equipment to help fight the coronavirus outbreak. He has previously stated that he does not think some states, such as New York, need as many ventilators as they have asked for.
Additionally, governors have complained that they are competing with other states to get enough medical supplies.
However, Quaid said he believes that Trump is doing his best to meet the states’ needs.
“And I think Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is doing a good job at trying to get these states—and all of the American people—what they need, and also trying to hold our economy together and be prepared for when this is all over.”
When asked about the Trump administration’s delayed response to the virus, despite reportedly receiving early warnings, Quaid praised Trump’s move to restrict travel.
“But Trump did do the travel ban to China, and then to Europe very quickly afterward, and he was castigated by a lot of members of Congress, who were just getting out of the impeachment, that it was racist what he was doing. It’s a good thing we had that travel ban at the time.”
Finally, he said that “It’s going to be a different world, for sure.” But, he added, “Hopefully, we can all be a bit more unified.”