Manchin slams Trump for ‘dangerous’ political ‘posturing’ during pandemic

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) blasted President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic Sunday, saying the president has not taken the virus seriously due to his “political posturing.”

Manchin, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” noted that in West Virginia alone more than 800 people have died from the virus. The state is reporting more than 1,000 new cases per day.

“The Senate Democrats, we haven’t met, as a group, since it started in March of this year. So we’ve been very, very diligent about that,” he said.

“Now our Republican colleagues are doing the same, they’re not meeting, they’re doing more Zooms like we have been doing all along. So everyone, I believe, is taking this more serious. The president has not. It’s been part of his political posturing. It’s very dangerous. It’s extremely dangerous. You know, over, what, close to 280,000 deaths, so far? It’s unbelievable,” he said.

The interview came the same day that Fox’s Chris Wallace pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on what he suggested was the president’s failure to lead on issues like wearing masks even as public health officials within the Trump administration present them as key to mitigating the spread of the virus.

Manchin is part of a bipartisan group of senators working to make a deal on further coronavirus aid, which also includes Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.). Mark Warner (D-Va.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Warner recently told MSNBC it “would be stupidity on steroids if Congress didn’t act before the holidays” on a relief bill.