Even as President Donald Trump and likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are trying to portray their concerns over the coronavirus crisis as non-political, both campaigns have personally attacked the other candidate as the nation deals with the pandemic in the run-up to November’s election, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
Although it is far too early to determine how the crisis will influence the election, Democrats believe it will clearly show how correct their argument has been about Trump’s unsuitability for the office, while Republicans are hopeful that the president's role as head of the response to the crisis will negate any Democratic criticisms about his leadership.
“Anybody who attempts to politicize and weaponize a public health crisis is revealed to be petty and peevish,” said White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. “To criticize Trump now is to criticize public health officials, FEMA, first responders, private sector businesses that are all coming forward to help.”
Biden, however, has insisted that Trump “is falsely telling us he’s taking action he has not taken, promising results he’s not delivering and announcing actions that he has not even ordered,” adding that “The president has been behind the curve throughout this whole response.”
Although Biden has stayed largely in the background as the 77-year-old is confined by the coronavirus, his campaign has built a television studio in his Delaware home so he can communicate with voters and is expected to make his first presentation on Monday.
Trump, however, have been bolstered by recent polls that show more than half the nation approves of his response to the crisis, and some of his advisers say the country will rally around him during a crisis.