Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) lashed out at presidential scion
Donald Trump Jr. for claiming
Democrats seemingly want the coronavirus to kill “millions of people” so they can end President Donald Trump’s “streak of winning,” threatening a “serious altercation” on Friday morning if the first son got near him.With financial markets tanking amid growing fears over the coronavirus, Team Trump and right-wing media have trained their attention on complaining about how Democrats and mainstream media have reacted to the Trump administration’s disjointed response to the crisis. During a Friday morning Fox &
Friends appearance, Trump Jr. insisted that Democrats were rooting for a massive disaster.“For them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness,” he bellowed.Appearing on MSNBC shortly thereafter, Garamendi was asked by host Hallie Jackson to react to those remarks. He immediately puffed his chest.“He should not be near me when he says that,” the congressman seethed.“Why not?” Jackson wondered aloud.“There would be a serious altercation,” the
California Democrat replied. “That is just totally outrageous. I can assure you that there’s not a Democrat or
Republican in
Congress that wants anybody to be sick.”Garamendi went on to say explain his concerns about the administration’s response to the viral outbreak, noting that the
United States has been aware since December of the growing epidemic in
China and that Americans have been exposed to it. After criticizing Team Trump’s lack of preparation and planning, and referencing a whistleblower’s recent complaint highlighting the lack of training and safeguards for HHS personnel serving coronavirus evacuees, Garamendi concluded with another warning to the president’s eldest child.“Don Jr. better not get close to me,” the
Democratic lawmaker fumed. “It would not be a healthy situation.”