Barry Diller Slams ‘Witch Doctor’ Trump: There’s ‘No Chance’ of an Economic Rebound by Summer

Billionaire businessman Barry Diller called President Donald Trump a “witch doctor” on Sunday while decrying the administration’s insufficient efforts to develop a plan for national economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The InterActiveCorp and Expedia chairman joined CBS’ Margaret Brennan to outline his view of the country’s economic future on Face The Nation. Diller said there was “no chance” of an economic bounce back by summer, explaining that the pandemic’s financial impact has already been too “catastrophic.”

“You’re going to have a massive amount of businesses that can’t return, businesses that go bankrupt. It’s inevitable,” Diller said. “Hopefully, the government will, so to speak, pick up the tab, because this is an existential crisis and we shouldn’t worry so much about doing it in a neat way. It ought to be sloppy to get that money out to everybody who needs it.”

When Diller turned toward the subject of what the country should do once its allowed to start going back to normal, he said it was “crazy” for people to consider half-measures of social distancing when it only works when the policy is completely adhered to. As he continued to say that the country will have to consider the “risk calculation” for how and when to reopen businesses, he bashed the federal government for not providing more guidance on how to make that happen.

“Unfortunately, we have a witch doctor as a president and he ain’t going to tell us,” said Diller. “But the science part of it, I think that has to be translated into more practical solutions. So somebody is gonna have to say, ‘Yes, you must wear masks, period, or no, take your chances.'”

Watch above, via CBS.

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