Melinda Gates openly condemned the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that a lack of leadership at the national level has led to ‘chaos’ across the board.
The billionaire philanthropist, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with her Microsoft co-founder husband, did not mince words when asked to weigh in on America’s handling of the global health crisis in an interview with Today Show’s Savannah Guthrie on Friday.
‘I’m both surprised we weren’t better prepared, but quite honestly I’m surprised we’ve wasted so much time. That we haven’t had leadership at the national level to get out tests in the right way, protective gear in the right way, contact tracing in the right way,’ Gates said. ‘With lack of leadership, there are 50 homegrown state solutions, and that just shouldn’t be.’
Gates, 55, cited Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the helm as an example of a country that has been able to keep certain sectors of its economy ‘safely’ open thanks to its national leadership, which has been guided by science.
‘That’s the kind of leadership we should expect as citizens in this country, and we’re not getting it,’ Gates added. ‘And so you’re seeing what’s happening. And it’s chaos.’
When asked by Guthrie if she blames President Donald Trump, Gates replied: ‘I’m disappointed in what I’ve been seeing, yes.’
In a separate interview with Politico on Thursday, Gates awarded the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic a lackluster grade of ‘D-minus,’ citing its failure to coordinate efforts at the top.
She argued that the government needs to invest more money in COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, as well as in vaccine development, in order to safely reopen the country.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement to Politico that Trump had taken an ‘unprecedented approach’ to working with governors to deliver the states the critical supplies they need.
Click here to read more.
Source: Daily Mail
BCNN1 WP 