As Hollywood celebrities rip into President Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least two actors have come to his defense: Dennis Quaid and Tracy Morgan.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Dennis Quaid said that President Trump is handling the pandemic “in a good way,” and commended his travel ban from China in late-January, a move that presidential candidate and likely Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden said was “xenophobic.” The interview centered on the release of his new podcast, “The Dennissance,” which premiered on all platforms Wednesday.
“Well, to tell you the truth, I think the president is handling it in a good way. We see him on television every day, he’s involved, and the travel ban early on was a great idea – which he did in spite of protest about that,” Quaid told the outlet.
Deflecting potential accusations of partisanship, the actor noted that he is an Independent who has voted for both parties. He also believed that this might be an opportunity for the country to reunite again.
“I’m an independent – I’ve voted both ways throughout my life, swinging like a pendulum toward what the country needed at the time – and I think this might be an opportunity for the country to come together again,” he said. “World War II did that for that generation, and this might be our defining moment of a generation. It’s going to be a different world, for sure, when all this is over, and hopefully we can all be a bit more unified.”
Though Quaid criticized the state of New York for not combatting its ventilator shortage earlier, he did commend Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo for how he has handled the crisis.
“I think Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is doing a good job at trying to get these states – and all of the American people – what they need, and also trying to hold our economy together and be prepared for when this is all over,” continued Quaid. “I don’t want to get into petty arguments about it.”
When it comes to pointing blame as to who didn’t do enough prior to the crisis, Quaid said people should do that after the situation ends.
“You know, the world has never experienced this, and I don’t think it’s a time to be political. I think it’s just time to get behind our government and have everybody do what they can. If you want to point blame after, that’s another story, but right now I think we all just really need to come together on this,” Quaid concluded. “I do appreciate that Trump is giving the briefings and on television every day giving out the information, and I think they have great people handling it.”
Actor Tracy Morgan, while not outright praising Trump like actor Dennis Quaid, did, however, defend him from the overwhelming amount of criticism he receives on a daily basis and called for national unity.
“The struggle is real. Right now we’re struggling. People want to criticize the president, but imagine being president of a country and have your country got sick. So it’s difficult for him,” Morgan said during an interview on “Today.”
“We’ve all got to pull together as people now,” he continued. “Now is not the time to blame and all these other things and anger. It’s here now. We just got to be together. We’ve got to all stay safe. Nobody wants to transmit it, nobody wants to attract it, nobody wants to get it. So let’s just stay safe and do the protocol that we have to do.”