Democratic Senator Chris Coons, of Delaware, appeared on Fox News on Sunday and Donald Trump wasn’t happy about it. The president slammed Coons a “weak and pathetic Schumer puppet” while misspelling his name. Trump also attacked Chris Wallace for not questioning Coons on his decision to ban people travelers from China at the end of January.
“Chris Wallace ‘forgot’ to ask a very weak and pathetic Schumer puppet, Senator Chrisie Coons, why Biden fought me when I put an extremely early BAN on people coming into our Country from heavily infected China. Biden later admitted I was right! But why no question?” Trump tweeted.
The Democratic Senator hit back at Trump, writing: “Mr. President, only my closest friends call me Chrisie.”
Coons also tweeted from a separate account: “Wow… my first Trump slander… makes a boy feel all grown up… even if I am a puppet not a real boy.”
The senator’s remark came in response to a tweet from Trump earlier in the day in which the president wrote, “Senator Chrisie Coons” is a “weak and pathetic Schumer puppet.”
Coons, a close friend of Biden who replaced him in the Senate when Biden became vice president, gave a speech on behalf of Biden during last week’s Democratic National Convention.
The president has repeatedly praised his decision to ban travel from China, where the first outbreak of the coronavirus was reported, as critics have attacked his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump’s order did not entirely limit travelers from China, though. Nearly 40,000 people arrived in the U.S. on direct flights from China in the two months after Trump announced the restrictions, The New York Times reported in April.
Biden’s campaign manager told CNN that Biden supports travel bans “that are guided by medical experts, advocated by public health officials, and backed by a full strategy.”
“Science supported this ban, therefore he did too,” she added.
The Biden campaign, however, has denied writing Trump “a letter of apology” regarding his comments on the travel ban as Trump has claimed on at least two occasions. Trump also accused Biden of calling the ban “xenophobic,” but Biden never explicitly called Trump’s ban on travel from China “xenophobic.”
Mr. President, only my closest friends call me Chrisie. https://t.co/nGV3vfvo58
— Chris Coons (@ChrisCoonsforDE) August 23, 2020
