Toomey on Trump’s Coronavirus Messaging: ‘More Recently It’s Generally Been Better’

Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that recently President Donald Trump’s public messaging on the coronavirus pandemic has improved.

Host Chuck Todd asked, “Is the role that President Trump has been playing at the briefings — do you believe that the public role the president has been playing has been helpful to this or do you believe he needs to take a step back and let the task force lead this response?”

Toomey said, “Well, you know, Chuck, I think many have struggled to understand this and think about this. It’s completely unprecedented. I think in many ways, the president has stepped back. We hear vice president pence has done a great job pulling together all of the different agencies and branches of government and dealing at the different levels. I think Dr. Fauci has done a fantastic job helping people to understand what’s happening here. I also think many other folks in the administration have been absolutely terrific, from Seema Verma to Alex Azar and others. So I think the administration as a whole is responding well.”

Todd asked, “Do you think the president has sort of gotten in the way of that at times?”

Toomey said, “Look, I mean, his message has — it changed as our understanding of this has changed. And sometimes it’s been better than other times. More recently, it’s generally been better.”

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