Donald Trump has hit back at Barack Obama after his presidential predecessor branded his handling of the coronavirus pandemic a “chaotic disaster”.
The US president claimed his administration was “getting great marks” and derided Mr Obama’s response to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak as “a disaster” and argued he “didn’t have a clue,” Sky News report.
He also included in his criticism former vice-president and his Democrat challenger for the White House Joe Biden, who he dubbed “Sleepy Joe”.
The war of words came after Mr Obama’s comments emerged from a leaked conference call with former members of his administration.
The ex-president said: “What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy – that has become a stronger impulse in American life.”
Mr Obama said that the world’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak had been “anaemic and spotty”.
Although he said the fallout from coronavirus in the US would have been bad “even with the best of governments”, he added: “It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset – of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ – when that mindset is operationalised in our government.”
The former president also vowed he would be “campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden” ahead of November’s election.
In response, Mr Trump tweeted: “We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic, especially the very early BAN of people from China, the infectious source, entering the USA.
“Compare that to the Obama/Sleepy Joe disaster known as H1N1 Swine Flu. Poor marks, bad polls – didn’t have a clue!”
We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic, especially the very early BAN of people from China, the infectious source, entering the USA. Compare that to the Obama/Sleepy Joe disaster known as H1N1 Swine Flu. Poor marks, bad polls – didn’t have a clue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020
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