Coronavirus: Obama takes swipe at Trump's handling of COVID-19 crisis
Barack Obama appears to have taken a dig at Donald Trump's handling of coronavirus, saying denying the pandemic had “terrible consequences”.
Former US president Barack Obama has taken a thinly veiled swipe at his successor Donald Trump over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Obama tweeted a Los Angeles Times story on Wednesday about the Trump administration’s plan to lower environmental regulations on US car manufacturers.
The big automakers will now be allowed to build cars that guzzle more gas than was allowed following standards put in place during Mr Obama’s tenure.
The former president didn’t mention Mr Trump by name, and it’s rare for him to directly hit out at the current holder of the office, but he compared the Government’s handling of climate change to its handling of coronavirus.
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“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,” he wrote in his tweet.
“All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall.”
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
Mr Trump’s administration cut funding in 2018 to the US’s main pandemic resource agency. He has been accused of downplaying the threat of coronavirus as it was sweeping through parts of the country, including New York. However, he has taken on a more serious tone in recent days.
It comes as the US is now considered the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis with 200,000 cases, more than any other country. Its number of deaths, nearing 5000, is surpassed by only Italy and Spain but both European countries have far fewer cases overall so their mortality rate is higher than the US.
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