House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she hopes President Donald Trump’s “heart will be opened” in response COVID-19 diagnosis over the weekend.
“Prayers are with the president and the first lady,” Pelosi said on “Face the Nation” this past Sunday. “I hope it really will be a signal that we have to do better in preventing the spread of this virus.”
Pelosi emphasized that she hoped the virus will have an impact on Trump’s “coming to the table with us and doing what we have to crush the virus, listen to science, have the public-private role that needs to be done to crush the virus.”
“So hopefully, prayerfully … I pray that in addition to his health that the president’s heart will be opened to the millions of people who have been affected, hundreds of thousands of families who’ve suffered a death,” she added, as reported by Fox News.
Pelosi went on to further accuse Republicans of being anti-science and not caring enough about how the virus has affected poor communities.
“Now [the virus has] even run free in the White House. Think of how it is in a poor neighborhood where the president is insisting that children actually go back to school in order to get the funding,” she said. “The Republicans in Congress and this president have been anti-science … So if science says you should be testing, tracing, treating, mask-wearing, sanitation, separation and the rest, and you don’t believe in science … then you have more deaths, more spread of the virus … They don’t believe in science and they don’t want to do anything about it.”
In response, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that Pelosi’s comments were “rather disgusting” and completely out of place.
“It’s rather disgusting. We’ve watched Speaker Pelosi say this before, that we’re enemies of the state. This is uncalled for, especially in this time and place,” said McCarthy on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“Remember, other nations are watching America,” McCarthy continued. “This is the one time we could unite together. I listen to the president’s voice, none of those type of languages to anybody across. One thing I did hear more of is how committed he’s even doubling down to make sure he lowers prescription drug prices, that he protects pre-existing conditions. He is sitting here trying to work with this speaker to get a COVID relief package together and these are the comments that she makes? It’s really unbecoming of that position.”
Pelosi was not the only political figure using Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis for a moment of political grandstanding. CNN host Jake Tapper said on Sunday that it was a symbol for his presidency’s failures, while Michael Moore said that he may have faked it to gain sympathy.
“He’s an evil genius, and I raise the possibility of him lying about having COVID-19 to prepare us and counteract his game,” Moore said in Facebook post. “He knows being sick tends to gain one sympathy. He’s not above weaponizing this.”
Related: Michael Moore: Possible Trump ‘Lying About Having COVID-19’ To ‘Gain Sympathy’