National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s record on fighting the coronavirus, noting his administration has created “a massive health and safety infrastructure.”
Kudlow was responding to criticism from former President Barack Obama who termed Trump’s COVID-19 response as “an absolute chaotic disaster” that is characterized by “that mindset of ‘What’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else.’”
“With all due respect to the former president,” Kudlow told ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” noting that he would rather not get into a political “back and forth” with Obama — who has publicly criticized the Trump presidency in the past. (RELATED: Larry Kudlow Says Economy May Not Open For Eight Weeks)
“President Trump — one thing shouldn’t be lost here … he’s made great use of the private sector … in terms of reopening in a safe manner. And we have relied very heavily on the smartest people in this country who run retail operations, biotech companies, you’ve got automobile companies producing ventilators at a rapid rate,” Kudlow said, adding that testing for the COVID-19 virus is exceeding expectations.
“I don’t understand what President Obama is saying. It just sounds so darn political to me. Look, what we have done may not be 100% perfect. These things happen once every 100 years,” Kudlow stated.
Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, in the press briefing room of the White House on March 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“But the overall picture: we’ve created a massive health and safety infrastructure to deal with the pandemic here in the United States and judging from the results — where there has been a flattening in the rate of growth in infection rates and mortality rates — it’s working; so we’re preparing to reopen the economy.” (RELATED: Ben Carson: If We Wait For COVID-19 To Be Completely Gone Before Reopening, ‘Our Economy Will Be Gone Also’)
Last month, Trump created a second coronavirus task force to prepare the United States for reopening the economy.
Kudlow predicted after the economy is completely reopened, “we’re going to see a very strong second half of the year: probably 20% economic growth.” The economic advisor noted that Trump administration policies that have lowered taxes and reduced regulations “are still in place” and “we may expand on those policies.”
For the moment, Kudlow quipped, “I’m going to leave President Obama alone.”