When it comes to the coronavirus, former Vice President Joe Biden (D) says the current president is “unqualified” to handle the response.
In an op-ed published in USA Today on Monday, Biden says President Donald Trump has “only weakened our capacity to respond,” and blasts the administration’s handling of the outbreak thus far.
According to Biden, Trump is the “worst” person to be heading up the country’s response to a public health crisis.
“Trump’s demonstrated failures of judgment and his repeated rejection of science make him the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health challenge.”
Biden rips into the “proposed draconian cuts” to federal agencies that are usually responsible for handling public health emergencies and says Trump rolled back efforts made by former President Barack Obama to “strengthen global health security.”
Additionally, Biden charges that Trump has “treated with utmost contempt institutions that facilitate international cooperation” and damaged the international community’s ability to handle public health emergencies.
“I am concerned that the Trump administration’s short-sighted policies have left us unprepared for a dangerous epidemic which will come sooner or later,” he added.
To contrast Trump’s response, Biden touted the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak as an example of how to successfully handle an epidemic.
“That’s how we broke the infection curve on Ebola. In September of 2014, CDC projections warned that over 1 million people could be infected if we failed to act. By February of 2015, thanks to the leadership of our administration, the number of new Ebola cases was less than 400. A few months later, the epidemic was essentially extinguished.”
Finally, Biden said that, as president, he would push to increase funding to help combat global public health crises.
While Biden knocked Trump for disregarding international cooperation, the president on Monday tweeted that the United States would offer its assistance to China to help stop the spread of the virus.