Barack Obama Says Donald Trump Isn’t Even ‘Pretending to Be in Charge’ With Coronavirus Response

Barack Obama once again aimed at Donald Trump and the White House response to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the week we saw the former president shared criticism during a private call with former staff, calling the White House pandemic response a “chaotic disaster.” Obama’s new comments continue to be critical of his successor, a rarity by former presidents, and addressed other current events aimed at HBCU graduates in a virtual commencement speech.

“This pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” Obama told graduates without referencing Trump by name. “If the world is going to get better, it’s going to be up to you.”

Trump has been critical of Obama and his presidency for years, with his time in The Oval Office doing little to cool the talk toward his predecessor. This includes Trump’s support of the birther conspiracy theory and his current push with the “Obamagate” conspiracy theory.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also weighed in on the previous comments and was forced to share a correction to claims that Obama left no plan for the Trump administration to follow during a pandemic. He also got fairly snippy in an interview with Lara Trump following Obama’s initial criticism, saying the former president should’ve “kept his mouth shut.”

“I think it’s a little bit classless, frankly, to critique an administration that comes after you,” McConnell said. “You had your shot, you were there for eight years. I think the tradition that the Bush’s set up — of not critiquing the president who comes after you — is a good tradition.”

McConnell has been pressured by Trump to jump aboard the “Obamagate” conspiracy theory and press it hard alongside himself and other GOP leaders. Trump even tweeted directly at McConnell on Saturday morning, assuring him that the claims are “100 percent true.”

“Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught,” Trump wrote. “They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country. Don’t let them get away with this!”

While Trump has aimed at Obama in the past week, the U.S. is slowly beginning to open up amid the coronavirus pandemic. As of Saturday, almost 90,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, with over 1.5 million cases confirmed across the country.