Sasse: ‘Lead Time’ We Had on Virus ‘Didn’t Translate Into Enough Action’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News Radio’s “Guy Benson Show,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) reacted to audio of President Donald Trump saying he played down the severity of coronavirus by stating that America “had some lead time on the virus, but that time didn’t translate into enough action.” And that the White House should have acted “like a team on a mission, trying to tackle a real problem, not trying to manage short-term media.”

Sasse said, “COVID isn’t a political problem, and it isn’t a public relations problem. It’s a public health crisis, that has also created an economic crisis, and the economic crisis is creating marital and public health crises, and tens of thousands of Americans have died from the virus, tens of millions of Americans are out of work because of the lockdown that flowed from the virus and from some government mistakes in response to the virus. It’s deadly serious stuff. And from the very beginning, I’ve been pushing that we needed a much more aggressive testing regime. Americans had some lead time on the virus, but that time didn’t translate into enough action. So, I’ve been pretty clear for a long time that I’ve wanted the whole White House to start acting like a team on a mission, trying to tackle a real problem, not trying to manage short-term media.”

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