Boston Globe Editorial Board: Trump Has "Blood on His Hands" Over Coronavirus

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The Boston Globe‘s editorial board condemned President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying the “profound impact” of the virus on the American way of life was “preventable.”

“As the American public braces itself for the worst of this crisis, it’s worth remembering that the reach of the virus here is not attributable to an act of God or a foreign invasion, but a colossal failure of leadership,” it wrote, adding that the White House’s lackluster response has resulted in a delayed rollout of tests and medical supplies and left the president “epically outmatched by a global pandemic.”

“The months the administration wasted with prevarication about the threat and its subsequent missteps will amount to exponentially more COVID-19 cases than were necessary,” the editorial board added. “In other words, the president has blood on his hands.”

The board continued:

“It’s not too much for Americans to ask of their leaders that they be competent and informed when responding to a crisis of historic proportions. Instead, they have a White House marred by corruption and incompetence, whose mixed messages roil the markets and rock their sense of security. Instead of compassion and clarity, the president, in his near-daily addresses to the nation, embodies callousness, self-concern, and a lack of compass. Dangling unverified cures and possible quarantines in front of the public like reality TV cliffhangers, he unsettles rather than reassures. The pandemic reveals that the worst features of this presidency are not merely late-night comedy fodder; they come at the cost of lives, livelihoods, and our collective psyche.”

The editorial board’s message comes after the president announced he would extend social distancing guidelines to April 30, a reversal of his previous promise to have the economy up and running by April 12 despite protests from health experts and politicians alike.

At least 4,066 people have died in the United States since the first death was recorded on February 29.