March 13, 2020 Trump Is a Clear and Present Danger to the Country. He Must Resign.

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

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President Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the nation’s public health, and he should resign immediately.

In a time when protecting the nation’s public health demands clear, truthful and compassionate leadership, Trump has offered exactly the opposite.

He has dissembled about the seriousness of the coronavirus epidemic, either because he refuses to accept the truth or fears the impact on his political fortunes, or both.

He has refused to make science-based recommendations (e.g., older people should avoid cruise ships and plane travel) or to declare a public health emergency out of fear about the impact on the stock market.

He has misstated his administration’s own policies.

He has presided over an administration that has inexplicably failed to deliver vitally needed coronavirus tests to health care providers around the country and then repeatedly lied to or misled the American public about remedying the problem. Instead of taking responsibility for the problem and fixing it, Trump has bizarrely blamed it on his predecessor, Barack Obama.

He has attacked his political rivals rather than seek to bring the country together.

These failings have nothing to do with political ideology or legitimate areas of policy disagreement. They are intolerable failures of leadership in a time of national crisis that have endangered the lives of all Americans. Trump should step down immediately.