Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appeared on NBC’s Meet the Pres s on Sunday and took aim at Donald Trump’s recent leadership amid the concerning surge in coronavirus deaths in the United States, The Hill reported.
“The Senate Democrats, we haven’t met, as a group, since it started in March of this year. So we’ve been very, very diligent about that,” he said.
The West Virginia lawmaker continued to claim that Republicans have begun to take the virus more seriously and suggested the Upper Chamber as a whole is treating the coronavirus pandemic as a grave issue.
“The president has not. It’s been part of his political posturing. It’s very dangerous. It’s extremely dangerous. You know, over, what, close to 280,000 deaths, so far? It’s unbelievable.”
As of Sunday evening, there are 14.8 million cases of coronavirus in America, and 282,000 citizens have died from the virus. Manchin’s comments come days after coronavirus deaths in the U.S. hit a record one-day high of 2,885, which is slightly lower than the 2,977 Americans who died during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been steadily rising, which is reportedly a sign that the death curve will follow the same trend.
Manchin is working with both Republicans and Democrats to come to a deal on additional coronavirus aid. The bipartisan group includes Sens. Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Rob Portman, Chris Coons, Michael Bennet, Mark Warner, and Dick Durbin.
Trump has received criticism from his allies on his handling of the pandemic. As reported by The Hill , former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said on Tuesday that the president’s purported lack of empathy regarding the pandemic was his biggest misstep ahead of the 2020 election.
“People were scared. I think if he would have been publicly empathetic, he would have won by a landslide then. He could have leaned into it instead of run away from it.”
Trump has faced criticism over the months for downplaying the severity of COVID-19 and continuing to hold rallies against the recommendations of public health professionals. The president again held a rally on Saturday in Georgia despite the increasing number of coronavirus cases across the country.
Amid the COVID-19 surge, Trump has focused on legal battles that are part of a plan to challenge the results of the 2020 election. Per CNN , the head of state’s team has continued to push forward despite a slew of legal losses. According to the publication, the Trump team’s battle against the electoral results is “plunging deeper into incoherence.” Notably, attorney Sidney Powell continues to spread unsubstantiated theories, which prompted the Trump legal team to distance itself from her.