Barack Obama takes rare public swipe at Trump over coronavirus response
Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday called out President Donald Trump’s widely criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic, urging voters to “demand better of our government.”
“We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic,” Obama tweeted. “We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial. All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall,” he added.
Obama did not mention Trump by name in the tweet.
However, Trump has been fiercely rebuked over his initial downplaying of the threat of the virus. He has previously called climate change a “hoax” and his administration has pursued an anti-environment agenda.
Trump has also sought to blame Obama for his own government’s botched response to the public health crisis that has sickened more than 188,000 people in the U.S. and killed upwards of 4,000. The U.S. now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country in the world.
Obama linked to a Los Angeles Times article documenting the Trump White House’s rollback of Obama-era fuel economy standards with his tweet.
We've seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic. We can't afford any more consequences of climate denial. All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall. https://t.co/K8Ucu7iVDK
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 31, 2020
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
