Bernie Sanders criticizes Trump's coronavirus response: 'We need scientists leading the effort, not politicians'

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he's in disbelief over the way President Trump is handling the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, specifically his decision to have Vice President Mike Pence oversee the government's response.

"We need scientists leading the effort, not politicians," Sanders said during a Fox News town hall Monday in Dearborn, Michigan. "This cannot be in any way, shape, or form perceived to be a political issue."

Unfortunately, he continued, Trump's White House "has shown the world that it does not believe in science ... how can we trust this administration dealing with an international health care crisis ... when you appoint Vice President Pence, an individual who also doesn't much believe in science? What you're telling the whole word is that we're politicizing this issue rather than dealing with it from a data, research, scientific basis."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The COVID-19 outbreak makes the case "abundantly clear" as to why the United States needs Medicare-for-all and paid family leave, Sanders said, because so many Americans may have symptoms but can't afford to go to the doctor. He went on to suggest Trump isn't taking the epidemic seriously, since he said people should work when they're sick and bragged that he has a "natural ability" to understand the epidemic.

"As president, I wouldn't claim I'm the world's scientific expert on climate change or coronavirus," Sanders said. "You listen to scientists. You don't say stupid things, you don't suggest to people that you can go to work. That's not what the scientists and doctors are saying." Catherine Garcia