On Monday, former President Barack Obama made a campaign stop for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia. Besides its status as a perhaps surprise swing state in the current cycle, Georgia also has two U.S. Senate races on the ballot, and this year, Democrats are fighting to become the majority party in the U.S. Senate, in addition to pursuing the White House. At his Georgia campaign stop for Biden, Obama shredded the failures of the Trump administration to meaningfully confront the Coronavirus pandemic. Obama zeroed in on the ridiculousness of Trump’s suggestion at a weekend rally that he might fire Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health after Election Day.
Obama told the rally crowd gathered in Atlanta:
‘If President Trump and your Senators had been focused on COVID from the beginning, instead of their portfolios, or their TV ratings, cases wouldn’t be reaching new record highs across the country just this week, nine months into the pandemic!.. We had a president who was pretending it was just like a bad flu… but you know what? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can get on top of this pandemic.’
Not only has Trump failed to meaningfully confront the Coronavirus pandemic, as evidenced by the rising case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths across the country — Trump has also complained about calls for him to do more to confront the crisis. He has complained about media coverage that the Coronavirus has gotten, suggesting that the media coverage is a conspiracy to make him look bad. That notion is ridiculous — Americans are suffering, and Trump is focused on himself.
As Obama added:
‘What’s Trump’s closing argument right now? Last night, on his COVID spreader tour… he told his supporters, don’t tell anybody, but he’s gonna fire Dr. Fauci after the election. Don’t boo, vote!.. Just in case you were worried that Trump had been taking COVID too seriously, he’s stated publicly he’s gonna fire the one person in the administration… who’s been taking this seriously all along — and what did he say? His second-term plan is to fire that guy.’
Watch some of Obama’s remarks below:
#BREAKING: President Obama rips President Trump for suggesting he'll fire Dr. Fauci: "Don't boo — vote!" pic.twitter.com/xT60g9c2at
— The Hill (@thehill) November 2, 2020
Originally, at a Sunday night rally in Florida, the crowd broke into a chant of “Fire Fauci!” After letting the chant run its course, Trump said the following:
‘Don’t tell anybody but let me wait until a little bit after the election.. I appreciate it. He’s been wrong on a lot — He’s a nice man though. He’s been wrong on a lot.’
How Trump might follow through on this threat remains to be seen.
Watch the president’s troubling remarks below:
Wow — a "Fire Fauci!" chant at the Trump rally
"Let me wait until a little after the election," Trump replies pic.twitter.com/bRHLqzzcRF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 2, 2020
