Meghan McCain had some tough words for the Trump administration on Monday when she returned to The View. The republican pundit has long been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, and she is not impressed by his coronavirus pandemic response, either.
McCain was back at the table on The View on Monday, again with no live audience. She said that the president’s handling of COVID-19 was “irresponsible” and “downright dangerous,” especially with all the “mixed messaging” between different statements and reports.
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In particular, McCain criticized the president for his personal behavior during the crisis. She said that the commander-in-chief “can’t even handle not shaking hands,” referencing his press conference on Friday. She felt that this was a failure in a critical time for him as a leader.
“Lead by example!” she said. “I’m not seeing a lot of profiles in courage coming out of the White House right now and I think that’s what’s stoking anxiety.”
McCain added that the president has failed in obligation to soothe people from “panicking,” falling into “complete delusion” and taking other potentially harmful measures like “hoarding toilet paper.” However, she put some responsibility for this on the populous as well.
“If you don’t care about your own health, care about your parents’ health. Care about your grandparents’ health. Care about people over 60 because what you’re doing is compromising everyone and there seems to be no in-between. There seems to be no calming of what’s going on and I do think it starts at the top,” she said.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to escalate, with a growing number of cases and some fearful new policies enacted in the hopes of stemming the onset of the virus. The president declared a national emergency on Friday, urging people to stay at home and practice social distancing, so that the virus will not spread all at once.
“It’s important for the young and healthy people to understand that while they may experience mild symptoms. They can easily spread this virus and they will spread it indeed, putting countless others in harm’s way,” he said.
According to experts at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the point of social distancing is not to protect individuals, but instead to protect society as a whole. While individuals may be able to weather the coronavirus, they can easily become vectors for giving the virus to people in high risk categories — children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. In addition, social distancing will help space out the timing of the outbreak, so that the a massive percentage of the population does not become sick all at once. This way, hospitals will not become overcrowded and medical supplies will not come in short supply.
Visit the CDC’s website for the latest information on COVID-19 and the best strategies for slowing its spread.
