OCTOBER 27, 2020
Former President Barack Obama at a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in Orlando on Tuesday. (John Raoux/AP)
During a drive-in campaign rally in Orlando Tuesday, former President Barack Obama skewered President Trump’s complaints about the attention the media devotes to COVID-19 and said his successor was “jealous” of the virus.
“What’s his closing argument? That people are too focused on COVID!” said Obama, speaking to a crowd of Biden supporters. “COVID, COVID, COVID — he’s complaining. He’s jealous of COVID’s media coverage!”
Over the last several weeks, Trump, who recently recovered from COVID-19, has promised supporters that the country is “rounding the turn” on the virus, and took to his Twitter account to chastise the national media for devoting much of its coverage to continued unemployment, recent nationwide spikes in coronavirus cases and the growing number of deaths. Over 226,000 Americans have now died of the virus.
Trump has also mocked the turnout at Obama’s campaign events, which the former president has ratcheted up in recent days as he campaigns for his old running mate, Joe Biden. Trump has insisted that he draws larger crowds than Obama, a claim Obama ridiculed on Tuesday.
“This week, with everything that’s happening, you know what he brought up? He was fussing about the crowd size at the inauguration again, saying his was bigger. Who is thinking about that right now? Nobody except him.”
Trump and Biden have been running virtually neck-and-neck in Florida, a crucial swing state that voted for Trump in 2016. Over 60 million Americans have already voted early, with overall turnout numbers on track to eclipse 2016 totals.
President Trump holds a campaign event in Lititz, Pa., on Oct. 26. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
In his remarks on Tuesday, Obama also made fun of the president’s television-viewing habits and his frequent use of Twitter.
“Tweeting at the TV doesn’t fix things,” Obama said. “Watching TV all day doesn’t fix things. Making stuff up doesn’t fix things. You’ve got to have a plan if you want to make people’s lives better.”
Trump, for his part, tweeted about Obama’s speech.
“Now @FoxNews is playing Obama’s no crowd, fake speech for Biden, a man he could barely endorse because he couldn’t believe he won,” Trump said.
Courtesy/Source: Yahoo! News
