Obama was 'grossly incompetent' president, says Trump

Donald Trump has hit back at Barack Obama’s criticism of his administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, accusing the former US president of being “grossly incompetent” during his time in office.

It is rare for a former president to rebuke a successor, but Obama did so during an online speech to graduating university and high school students yesterday, although he did not name Trump in his comments.

“More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” Obama said during an online commencement address to graduates of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on Saturday.

On Sunday, Trump said he had not seen Obama’s comments, but added: “Look, he was an incompetent president, that’s all I can say. Grossly incompetent.”

Trump has faced widespread criticism for his administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed almost 90,000 people in the US, far higher than any other country in the world. Trump has insisted the US is making great progress against the virus, and has encouraged states to reopen their economies despite warnings from public health experts that such a move will lead to more deaths. _Agencies


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