Piers Morgan says Donald Trump has ‘been terrible’ during the coronavirus crisis

Piers Morgan has been supportive of Donald Trump in the early days of his presidency. But lately, however, the Good Morning Presenter is critical of the U.S. President’s approach to the coronavirus crisis.

“I think during this crisis he's been terrible,” Piers Morgan said on Monday’s Good Morning Britain, according to Daily Mail. “He's shown a complete inability to pivot to the kind of leadership needed in a crisis - which is calm, authoritative, giving the people honest, accurate information. Showing empathy for all those whose lives have been lost.”

But instead of becoming a leader the U.S. needs during this health crisis, Morgan said that Trump failed to live up to the challenge. “We've seen none of that, instead we've just seen ‘rally Trump’, the same guy we saw before,” he added.

The GMB presented also pointed out Donald Trump’s tendency to fight with the media during his press briefings. “Picking fights with the media, picking fights with the Democrats,” Piers Morgan continued. “Coming out with ludicrous, crazy theories about bleach which he claims were a sarcastic joke.”

Donald Trump has been criticized for suggesting that disinfectant injections and ultraviolet light could be investigated as potential treatments of COVID-19 patients. He later claimed via a Twitter post that the suggestions were merely him being sarcastic.

But Morgan did not believe Trump’s explanation. “We've seen the tape, everyone can see he wasn't being sarcastic or jokey,” he explained. “So now he's lying about that. All the worst traits of Donald Trump have now come to the fore and it's really damaging to him, his presidency and the country.”

However, CNN commentator Ben Ferguson, defended Donald Trump’s handling of the health crisis and said that many governors will disagree with Morgan’s assessment. “Many governors that I've talked to have said he has done everything he said he was going to do for the states,” Ferguson told Morgan.

“He did make sure states did get the ventilators they needed,” Ferguson added. “They got the medical attention and care they needed. They got the masks they needed.”

The United States leads the world in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Based on data from Worldometers, total coronavirus in the country is already 987,160 while the death toll due to the pathogen has reached 55,413 as of April 27, 2020.