Murphy says US would be ‘better off’ if Trump admin ‘did nothing’ on coronavirus

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the American people would be better off if President Trump and members of his administration did nothing to try and slow the spread of coronavirus across the country. 

“At this point, we would be better off if the Trump Administration just did NOTHING on #COVID19,” Murphy said in a tweet Sunday. “The nation would be safer if the whole White House stayed in bed all day.”

At this point, we would be better off if the Trump Administration just did NOTHING on #COVID19. The nation would be safer if the whole White House stayed in bed all day.

The mask shaming, the rallies, the unrealistic promises on vaccines – it’s killing people. https://t.co/45NW1WY0aR

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 25, 2020

The Democratic senator was reacting to comments made earlier Sunday by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows defending the president’s handling of the pandemic that has taken more than 200,000 American lives. 

“So here’s what we have to do. We’re not going to control the pandemic. We are gonna control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations,” Meadows said on CNN’s  “State of the Union.”

He added, “It is a contagious virus just like the flu.” 

Meadows’ remarks set off a firestorm of criticism on the left, with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden pointing to them as evidence that Trump’s team has “given up” on trying to defeat the virus. 

“White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows stunningly admitted this morning that the administration has given up on even trying to control this pandemic, that they’ve given up on their basic duty to protect the American people,” Biden said. “This wasn’t a slip by Meadows, it was a candid acknowledgment of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away.” 

Murphy, a frequent Trump critic, suggested Trump has only made the pandemic worse and exposed more Americans to the deadly coronavirus than needed to be.