Piers Morgan is calling out U.S. President Donald Trump for his response to the coronavirus, saying the president doesn’t deserve reelection due to the “shameful” way he has handled the deadly outbreak.
The British television host said in an interview with The Sunday Times that Trump has failed as a leader in response to the global pandemic, which has struck the United States particularly hard. Morgan, once a backer of Trump, criticized the president for making what he sees as insensitive remarks and pushing “stupid, crazy theories” about potential treatments for the coronavirus.
Morgan added that Trump should be better connecting with the American people who are hurting from the health and economic effects of the outbreak, but said the president doesn’t know how.
“Trump’s biggest Achilles heel has always been his complete inability to show empathy,” Morgan said, via Newsweek . “Right now, I do not think he deserves to be re-elected.”
Morgan also slammed Trump for his encouragement of the anti-lockdown protests that have arisen across the United States. Trump had previously tweeted a call to “liberate” a series of states with Democratic governors, and Morgan feared that some of the gun-carrying protesters could be moved to violence if the president continues to push them.
“And they’re all heavily armed with semi-automatic weapons, and if, God forbid, they lose their jobs, have no income, are angry and are persuaded by Trump that his political opponents are being tyrannical, I can see some very ugly scenes,” Morgan said. “Aided and abetted by the president. And it’s shameful.”
Morgan and Trump have had a long-running relationship, with the British television host winning the first season of Trump’s reality television show, The Celebrity Apprentice , in 2007 and at times supporting the president. After Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, resigned from the position in December 2018, Morgan wrote an op-ed describing why he would be a good choice to replace him .
This is not the first time that Morgan has voiced his displeasure with how Trump has handled the crisis. As The Inquisitr reported, he also said last month that Trump’s musing that disinfectants could either be injected or ingested to treat the coronavirus was going to get people killed. Trump later said that he was just being sarcastic to see how reporters would respond, but poison control centers across the United States reported a rise in cases of people ingesting household cleaners in the hours after Trump’s comments.
In the wake of that criticism, Trump unfollowed Morgan on social media.