CNN White House chief correspondent Jim Acosta slammed Donald Trump on Thursday evening after the president announced that the RNC convention in Jacksonville was canceled due to coronavirus concerns but then pushed for students to go back to school in the fall.
“This was … a full-scale retreat on the part of the president,” said Acosta. “He is the one that wanted to have this part of the convention in Jacksonville, because officials in North Carolina would not bend to his demands for a big, splashy nomination event … the president had to bend to the reality there of the situation down in Florida, as that state is dealing with a very serious situation when it comes to the coronavirus.”
“It sets up a very, I think, important question for the president,” continued Acosta. “How is it that he is okay with canceling a convention in Jacksonville because of concerns with the coronavirus, but yet it’s okay for him to push schools to reopen around the country? … He was talking about how children can withstand the virus, how they have stronger immune systems, so on, disregarding, once again, as we’ve recounted, time and again, the threat that is posed by children spreading the virus to their teachers and their loved ones at home when they come home from school, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, so on. The president is not dealing with that reality. He’s okay with canceling a convention in Jacksonville because of health concerns, yet he wants to push schools to reopen.”
“He sounded like he’s coming to the reality of the situation that this pandemic is getting out of control in this country, but yet if he had been more serious about the virus months ago, this situation could be in better shape than where it is right now,” continued Acosta. “He might even be able to have his nominating speech in Jacksonville, or have a normal convention down in Charlotte, had he taken this seriously all along.”
“And so the president is finding himself to be a victim of his own leadership, his own lack of leadership, throughout this pandemic,” continued Acosta. “And the chickens are coming home to roost for this president … he’s having to essentially backpedal on all of these lines in the sand that he’s been drawing throughout this entire pandemic.”
Take a look at his remarks below:
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