MSNBC’s Chris Hayes pans Trump’s ‘disturbing’ remarks at CDC

MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes slammed President Trump’s visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, calling his remarks to reporters “disturbing.”

Trump made an appearance alongside CDC Director Robert Redfield and other top officials at the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta to deliver the latest updates on the government’s coronavirus response.

Hayes ripped the president’s remarks suggesting he wished 21 infected passengers on a cruise ship off the coast of San Francisco not be brought on land in part because he did not want the number of cases in the U.S. to spike.

“I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship,” Trump said, adding he would defer to Vice President Pence and other officials on whether to keep or remove the infected Americans from the ship.

Trump “literally said experts were telling him to take sick Americans off a cruise ship but he doesn’t want to do it because it WILL MAKE THE NUMBERS GO UP and it ‘wasn’t our fault,'” Hayes tweeted later Friday.

Ok, the CDC appearance was the most disturbing one yet from Trump. He literally said experts were telling him to take sick Americans off a cruise ship but he doesn’t want to do it because it WILL MAKE THE NUMBERS GO UP and it “wasn’t our fault.” Holy Jesus.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 6, 2020

Hayes also went after Trump’s remarks seemingly comparing coronavirus tests to his call with Ukraine’s president last year that led to his impeachment.

Trump said that the coronavirus tests “are all perfect like the letter was perfect, the transcription was perfect, right? This was not a perfect as that but pretty good.”

“He’s right that the original CDC tests were ‘perfect’ the way his Ukraine phone call was ‘perfect.’ As in: a disaster,” the MSNBC host wrote.

He’s right that the original CDC tests were “perfect” the way his Ukraine phone call was “perfect.” As in: a disaster https://t.co/9CpPrrPr4u

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 6, 2020

Hayes also blasted the federal response during his MSNBC show “All In with Chris Hayes” on Friday night, criticizing the administration for lacking the “full scope” of the coronavirus crisis and calling the response a “failure.”

“This is what happens when you elect a BS artist to the most important job in the country,” he concluded.