Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi responded Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s briefing earlier in the day, warning that the pandemic would likely worsen before it improved, saying it had occurred. He realizes that his first actions and rhetoric were wrong.
“He acknowledged the mistakes he has made in embracing the use of masks and the recognition that this is not a hoax, it is a pandemic that has worsened before it improves due to his inaction and, in fact, it is clearly the ‘Trump virus'” he said, speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“If he had said months ago ‘let’s wear a mask, let’s get away socially’ instead of having demonstrations … then more people would have followed suit,” Pelosi added. “He is the President of the United States.”
In today’s briefing of around 30 minutes, Trump again said he believed the virus would go away and insisted that the US response to the pandemic was “much better” than elsewhere.
But he also offered more realistic projections that his advisers hope will make him appear like a sober leader.
“It will probably get worse before it gets better,” Trump said, echoing a prediction he made in early April of a “tough” two weeks ahead.
Pelosi suggested that Trump should have taken the tone he took today in March, instead of waiting until the virus emerged across the country.
“If it is important to wear a mask now, it would have been important to wear it in March instead of telling us that by April, we would all go to church together,” he said. “I wish that was the case.”
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