Biden, Obama Slam Trump Over COVID-19 Pandemic Handling

By Staff, Agencies

Former vice president Joe Biden and President Barack Obama on Saturday accused US President Donald Trump of a massive screw-up in his handling of the coronavirus, however, the oval office incumbent remained ebullient despite trailing in polls with 10 days to go until the election.

Trump plowed through three campaign rallies in one day, targeting separate battleground states as he sought to close the gap with Biden.

But with 224,000 registered COVID-19 deaths, a large portion of voters say Trump has handled the crisis poorly.

"That's Donald Trump's presidency," Biden said Saturday during a drive-in rally, one of two events in his native Pennsylvania, a critical swing state. He spoke from a stage decorated with bales of hay and Halloween pumpkins.

"Donald Trump said, and is still saying, we're rounding the corner. It's going away. We're learning how to live with it. We're not learning how to live with it. You're asking us to learn how to die with it and it's wrong," he added.

The Biden campaign also deployed a key surrogate in Obama, who slammed the Trump administration's COVID-19 response.

"The idea that somehow this White House has done anything but completely screw this thing up is nonsense," Obama told supporters at a drive-in rally in Miami, Florida.

Trump shrugged off Obama's criticism, saying on Twitter that the former president had only "47 people" at his event.

"No energy, but still better than Joe!" he quipped. And he shrugged off polls which continue to show his Democratic rival Biden leading the race.

"They want to depress you," he said of the political and media outlets reporting the numbers. "These polls are much better than four years ago."