Obama slams Trump administration’s management of the pandemic [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Former President Barack Obama criticized Trump’s administration during his commencement address on Saturday for its mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.
• During his phone discussion with his former aides, Obama described Trump’s COVID-19 management as an “absolute chaotic disaster.”
• On Saturday evening, White House press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement saying that President Trump’s coronavirus response has saved lives.

In his commencement address on Saturday, Former President Barack Obama slammed the current “folks in charge” for their COVID-19 crisis response. He gave some pointed criticisms against the Trump administration.

Obama’s speech, which was streamed online, said: “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing.”

“A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” he added. “If the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up to you.”

The commencement address was shown to 27,000 students at 78 historically black colleges and universities in a two-hour event “Show Me Your Walk H.B.C.U. Edition.”

In a private phone call discussion with thousands of his former aides, Obama called the Trump administration’s COVID-19 handling an “absolute chaotic disaster.”

On Saturday evening, White House press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement: “President [Donald] Trump’s unprecedented coronavirus response has saved lives. His early travel restrictions and quarantines protected the American public while his Paycheck Protection Program and direct payments to Americans got needed economic relief to our country.”

“Moreover, President Trump directed the greatest mobilization of the private sector since World War II to fill the stockpile left depleted by his predecessor,” the statement added.

The former president also tackled racial disparities that discriminate people of color in the virus outbreak crusade.

“And let’s be honest — a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country,” Obama said. “We see it in the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on our communities, just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog, and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him if he doesn’t submit to their questioning.”

The former president was referring to the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was out for a jog when he was chased and brutally killed by two white men in late February, as stated by his family.  The suspects were arrested until May, after a video of the killing was shared publicly online.

“Injustice like this isn’t new. What is new is that so much of your generation has woken up to the fact that the status quo needs fixing; that the old ways of doing things don’t work,” Obama added.

Until recently, Obama has rarely criticized Trump in public. He is expected to attend a second commencement ceremony hosted by NBA star Lebron James for graduating high school seniors.

Source: AOL.com