Kasie Hunt Invokes Deceased NBC Colleague to Warn Trump Against Rolling Back Coronavirus Policies

MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt warned that President Donald Trump could redouble the impact of the coronavirus crisis if he lifts safety guidelines too soon and lets the public risk exposure to the disease.

Hunt joined Morning Joe to discuss how Trump is itching to restart the national economy, even though health officials warn that the country needs to keep practicing social distancing. The conversation also touched on how members of Congress have contracted the virus, which prompted Hunt to say that “When you spend your time in the corridors of power in Washington, you are usually protected from the things that affect every other American in the country.”

“This virus doesn’t discriminate,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have or don’t have, or power you have or don’t have. It can come to you as well.”

In terms of the political ramifications, Hunt alluded to NBC News’ staffer Larry Edgeworth, who died from the coronavirus last week, to say “we’re still only at the beginning” of the pandemic. She also said that Trump will pay a political price if another crisis happens because he didn’t want to keep safety measures in place as long as necessary.

“What I don’t understand about where the president is coming from here, is that if you do not take the actions necessary to stop this spread, if you do not keep the measures in place as long as you need them, the political ramifications are not going to ignore the reality that results. This is not something you can bluster or push a headline or whatever your way out of. You just can’t. If this medical crisis is exacerbated because the president lifts the social restrictions too quickly, we’re going to have an economic crisis. If he wants to get re-elected, he needs to make sure that his decisions are not blamed for everybody being concerned that somebody they know was in the hospital or passed away.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.