Mitt Romney Slams Trump’s Pandemic Mismanagement: ‘No Way to Spin’ 170,000 Deaths ‘In a Positive Light’

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) blasted Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, arguing there’s no way to spin the number of deaths that took place under the president’s watch.

In a Friday interview with the Sutherland Institute, Romney offered his view that the U.S. death toll from Covid-19, which currently stands at approximately 170,000, is proof that the country did not handle the disease well. For this, Romney blamed the Trump administration by noting that they dismissed the virus’ threat early on, then failed to protect the people after eventually taking it seriously.

“I think it’s fair to say we really have not distinguished ourselves in a positive way by how we responded to the crisis when it was upon us,” Romney said. “We have 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s deaths due to Covid-19, and there’s no way to spin that in a positive light.”

From there, Romney argued that the federal government should’ve acted faster in raising the alarm on the disease, expediting the manufacturing and distribution of medical supplies, and “take charge of the response” and the enforcement of safety guidelines.

“That was really unfortunate and the health impact of Covid-19 on our country and our response to it was really very, very disappointing,” Romney said. He continued by saying “the numbers speak for themselves,” though Romney did offer Trump at least some credit for how quickly the government was able to send out financial relief to alleviate the economic impact of the pandemic.

Watch above (starting at 3:30), via The Sutherland Institute.