FORMER US President Bill Clinton has accused Donald Trump of wasting time watching TV and tweeting rather than tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking during the Democratic National Convention, Clinton said: "If you want a president who defines the job is spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he's your man."
In a scathing takedown of the Trump administration, Clinton slammed the President’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The US has one of the highest coronavirus infection rates in the world.
5.49 million people have already been infected with the virus, while 171,000 have died.
Clinton lay the blame for these damning figures directly at the door of the White House.
He also questioned Trump’s ability to lead the country through a crisis of this kind.
"Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if you're trying to entertain and inflame," he explained.
"But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards. COVID doesn't respond to any of that. To beat it, you've got to go to work and deal with the facts."
Clinton was joined by fellow former president Jimmy Carter in endorsing Joe Biden for President at the event.
However, it was Clinton’s speech that proved the most memorable on a night of ringing endorsements for Biden, with the former President savaging Trump for his handing of the pandemic.
"When he [Trump] didn't like the expert advice he was given, he ignored it," Clinton.
"Only when COVID exploded and even more states that he encouraged people to wear masks. And then many more were dying."
"When asked about the surging deaths. He shrugged and said, it is what it is, but didn't have to be this way," he added.
"COVID hit us much harder than it had to.”
Speaking from the Clinton family home in Chappaqua, New York, on his 74th birthday, the former President also dismissed Trump’s claims regarding the US economy.
“Donald Trump says we're leading the world,” Clinton said.
“Well, we are the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triple. At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes - his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there.”
Clinton went on to hail Biden as a "go-to-work president.”
“Our party is united in offering you a very different choice: a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission: to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide. Our choice is Joe Biden,” he said.
“You know what Donald Trump will do with four more years: blame, bully, and belittle. And you know what Joe Biden will do: build back better. It's Trump's 'Us vs. Them' America against Joe Biden's America, where we all live and work together. It's a clear choice. And the future of our country is riding on it,” he concluded.
Trump has yet to respond to Clinton’s criticism, though he did retweet a post asking “Why Are These Democrats Talking About The Economy When They Know The Corona Virus Shut Down Caused The High Unemployment?”
