Joe Biden lashed out at President Trump for 'making excuses' in an op-ed in the New York Times detailing how he would handle the...
Joe Biden lashed out at President Trump for 'making excuses' in an op-ed in the New York Times detailing how he would handle the coroanvirus pandemic as president.
'We are now several months into this crisis, and still this administration has not squarely faced up to the "original sin" in it's failed response - the failure to test,' Biden pointed out in the editorial, which ran Sunday.
The former vice president also warned that American life may be changed permanently, with crowds being a concept of the past.
Joe Biden stepped up his attack on President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, writing in a New York Times op-ed that Trump needed to stop 'making excuses' and get the federal government's response on track
Biden said President Trump (pictured) needed to make up for his administration's 'original sin' of not having widespread testing available for the coronavirus. Without mass testing it will be difficult for Americans to safely return to work, Biden offered
'People across America are stepping up to the plate. Millions are performing essential services at great personal risk, and millions more are staying at home, away from friends and extended family. In return, they want the answer to a simple question: What is the plan to safely reopen America?' Biden began.
'So far, the Trump administration hasn’t supplied an answer,' he said.
While the current thinking has to be about solving the medical crisis and the longterm plan needs to be the development and distribution of a vaccine, Biden pointed that 'we need to build a bridge from here to there.'
The first piece of Biden's plan is to 'get the number of new cases of the disease down significantly.'
This means social distancing needs to continue and Trump needs to ramp up his use of the Defense Production Act in order to get medical supplies to areas in need.
'He needs to get the federal response organized and stop making excuses,' Biden said. 'For more Americans to go back to their jobs, the president needs to do better at his job.'
The second piece, is testing - both to find out if a person has the coronavirus, but also that they had the coronavirus, and thus some immunity from being infected.
And third, Biden said, was readying hospitals for flare-ups when social distancing restrictions are relaxed.
'Reopening the right way will still not be completely safe,' he warned.
'As public health experts have said, we should expect activity to return gradually, with sites like offices and stores reopening before arenas and theaters,' he added.
Biden said he'd gather together a group of experts from the private sector, respresenting an array of industries, in order to come up with ideas about how businesses can resume operations safely.
'Perhaps offices and factories will need to space out workers and pursue other solutions to lessen risk of spread of the virus on the job,' he said. 'Restaurants may need new layouts, with diners farther apart.'
He concluded the op-ed by, again, attacking Trump's response.
'As we prepare to reopen America, we have to remember what this crisis has taught us: The administration’s failure to plan, to prepare, to honestly assess and communicate the threat to the nation led to catastrophic results,' Biden wrote. 'We cannot repeat those mistakes.'
Biden's tone in the editorial was more critical and urgent than he expressed previously.
Last week, he talked about the good call he had with the president, where he explained to Trump how he'd handle the crisis.
'I laid out what I thought he should be doing. I laid out four or five specific points that I thought were necessary. I indicated that it is about taking responsibility, and being the commander-in-chief, taking on the responsibility,' Biden said he told Trump during an interview on CNN Tuesday. 'He asked whether or not we would not discuss the detail of what we talked about, just saying that we had a good conversation.'
'He was very gracious in his conversation. So it was - the president - I had an opportunity to tell him what I would have done, what I thought, the lessons we learned.'
Like he noted in the New York Times op-ed, Biden said he pushed Trump to better utilize the Defense Production Act.
Biden said he also pushed Trump to reopen the enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act - better known as Obamacare - which the president, so far, has refused, pitching the idea of giving 'cash payments' to hospitals instead to pay for uninsured Americans' coronavirus treatment.
'And he was very gracious,' Biden added. 'And that was the end of the conversation.'
Biden became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee last week when Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race.
Sanders said he would remain on the ballot and continue to collect pledged delegates, using them to push Biden further to the left.
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