Former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump for calling the coronavirus the “kung flu” and the “China Virus” during a fundraiser for Joe Biden, The New York Times reports.
During Thursday’s private fundraiser, Obama blasted Trump.
“I don’t want a country in which the president of the United States is actively trying to promote anti-Asian sentiment and thinks it’s funny,” Obama said during the event. “I don’t want that. That still shocks and pisses me off.”
Trump has used the terms “kung flu” and “China virus” when discussing the coronavirus outbreak. The president has said the nicknames he gave to the virus are not racist. He has asserted they depict that the virus comes from China.
The newspaper also reports that Obama told an aide that Trump has “no idea what he’s doing,” after the two met in 2016.
One aide told The New York Times that Obama doesn’t even want to say Trump’s name so another aide suggested they refer to the president as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,” a nod to Harry Potter’s enemy, Lord Voldemort.
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