Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said the federal government is failing to react appropriately to surging coronavirus cases around the country because President Trump is “a moron.”
“More people are in hospitals, more people are dying. This third wave in the cold weather with the combination of the flu, and we’re sitting on our hands and that’s because Donald Trump is such a — pardon my saying, I know you have a very nice show — such a moron,” Schumer told SiriusXM’s “The Joe Madison Show.”
Schumer argued that the federal government needs to tackle many pressing needs, such as hospitals getting overwhelmed with new patients, and nurses and other workers needing protective equipment.
The comment was one of the most explicit shots Schumer has taken at Trump’s intelligence and a reflection of how bitter the political atmosphere has become in Washington.
Schumer has made it increasingly clear that he does not respect Trump’s intelligence.
The Democratic leader compared Trump to “an idiot” after the president’s first debate with former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Last night President Trump delivered one of the most disgraceful performances at a presidential debate that anyone has ever seen. … Shakespeare summed up in ‘Macbeth,’ Trump’s performance last night — a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” Schumer said the next day on the Senate floor.
In April, Schumer called Trump “a quack medical salesman” after the president wondered out loud at a coronavirus briefing if people could ingest or inject a disinfectant to quickly knock out the virus.
Last month, Schumer slammed Trump’s views on the global climate as idiotic.
“President Trump suggested idiotically that the planet will start getting cooler, just you watch. Sound familiar? This is like COVID’s a hoax and will go away when the weather gets warmer. This man has no knowledge about anything and yet he just spouts,” Schumer said at a press conference.
He also tacitly jabbed Trump for ignoring science after he tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month.
“When you ignore the science, you don’t wear a mask, and you don’t follow social distancing guidelines, it puts you and everyone around you at risk,” he said after wishing Trump and First Lady Melania Trump a “speedy recovery.”
In February, Schumer slammed the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus as one of “towering and dangerous incompetence.”
Trump for his part has also maligned Schumer in personal terms, often deriding the Democratic leader as “Cryin’ Chuck.” He contends Schumer pretended to cry when he denounced the administration’s travel ban in 2017.