Coronavirus crisis handling: Biden doesn't think Trump has blood on his hands, says 'that's a little too harsh'
Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden has found himself in a spot despite having a terrific March electorally, thanks to the drastic outbreak of the coronavirus. The former vice president’s campaign has been accused of not handling things convincingly even while leading the race against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Biden off late has shifted to virtual campaigning to keep up the momentum despite the pandemic but technical snags and oratorical gaffes have remained the highlights more than solid response to the pandemic.
On Sunday, March 29, Biden gave an interview to NBC’s Chuck Todd (both were operating from their respective home studios) on ‘Meet the Press’ where he spoke out on President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic that has claimed nearly 2,500 lives in the US and affected over 142,000 -- the most in any country of the world. But Biden was less supportive of the claim that Trump has blood on his hands over his handling of the outbreak.
Todd sought Biden’s opinion over the president’s alleged slow response to the crisis and supposed failure to get things going right away. “Do you think there is blood on the president's hands considering the slow response?” Todd asked the presidential hopeful.
“I think that’s a little too harsh,” Biden, 77, said. “Someone … used the phrase that the president just thinks out loud. He should stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply.”
The former long-time senator from Delaware said the coronavirus is not Trump’s fault but the president erred in his response mechanism. “...the slow response, the failure to get going right away, the inability to do the things that needed to be done quickly — they are things that can’t continue. We’re going to go through another phase of this, and we have to be ahead of the curve not behind the curve,” he said.
The former No.2 at the White House said the president needs to pay attention to the experts before speaking. “He should start listening to the scientists before he speaks. He should listen to the health experts. He should listen to his economists,” Biden added.
'Tell people the truth and trust them'
The former vice president’s finest moment during the interview came when Todd asked him how to tell the common people that the worst is not over yet and it might take till June for things to slowly return to normalcy.
Though not in the same league as some of the biggest orators the world has seen, Biden still managed to convey a clear answer. He said the best move forward is to tell the people the truth and trust them instead of raising the expectations unrealistically which would not only make it impossible to meet but also hurt the public confidence in the government officials. Trump hinted last week that his administration was considering lifting the lockdown by Easter (April 12) but was forced to retreat later as the situation showed no signs of improvement.
“Look, the American public is really strong and tough. The first thing we should do is listen to the scientists. Secondly, we should tell them the truth. The unvarnished truth. The American people have never shied away from being able to deal with the truth. The worst thing you can do is raise false expectations and watch them get dashed. Then they begin to lose confidence in the leadership. So we should just tell the truth as best we know it. As best the scientists know it. We should let them speak,” he said.
The veteran Democrat, who now needs less than 800 delegates to clinch the presidential nomination, also said the president should now be focusing on the implementation of the phase three coronavirus stimulus bill worth $2.2 trillion and how the payments will be delivered to families in the US.
Biden leading Trump by 25 percent, shows Fox poll
Meanwhile, a Fox News poll showed Biden taking a 25-point lead over Trump in battleground counties ahead of the November presidential election. Trump and his former opponent Hillary Clinton were within 10 points of each other in these counties.
According to the poll, Biden has 57 percent support to Trump’s 32 percent in those counties while nationally, the former leads the latter by 49-40. This is the first Fox poll conducted after Biden emerged as the assumed Democratic candidate. The poll was held between March 21 and 24.
Even Biden's promise to pick a woman as his running mate found 63 percent approval in the poll as against a 20 percent disapproval.