Coronavirus: Governor Jay Inslee says Trump should be ‘removed from office’ for his ‘lack of leadership’ during pandemic

‘To encourage criminal misconduct is unconscionable, irresponsible, and good cause to be removed from office,’ he says

Washington Governor Jay Inslee has said the president should be “removed from office” for his “lack of leadership” when handling the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democratic governor was ahead in addressing the novel virus in his state after Washington became the America’s first hotspot for Covid-19. His response involved being one of the first states to shut down all nonessential functions and limiting social gatherings.

In a fiery interview with the Rolling Stone about the pandemic, Mr Inslee criticised Donald Trump for his own reaction to the virus.

“It’s akin to Franklin Delano Roosevelt on December 8th, 1941, and for months thereafter, saying that Pearl Harbour was a hoax, and that the battleships weren’t important, and that the Japanese were going to surrender miraculously the next Monday,” he said. “That’s kind of the scenario we have had from the current president.”

Decisions about closing down states fell largely on each governor, but Mr Inslee said a “lack of leadership” within the federal government was still noticed by Democrats and Republicans alike who needed assistance.

“I think every governor, Republican and Democrat, has run into that crevasse of a lack of leadership, from an early refusal [by Trump] to use the Defence Production Act to an effort to contradict the public health advice from the president’s own experts, almost on a daily basis, to an effort to try to promote unsafe products. The list goes on and on,” Mr Inslee said, comparing the Trump administration to “dead weight” working against him as he attempted to respond to the growing pandemic.

Mr Trump has long boasted his quick response because of when he issued a travel ban against China at the end of January.

The move, experts have said, did helped prevent further spread of virus in the US. But it was later revealed that on the East Coast, the virus came from Europe. Experts also believe the coronavirus could’ve been in the US months before the first known case and the enactment of the China travel ban.

Mr Inslee also brought up the president encouraging residents to break social distancing rules and stay-at-home orders through tweets.

Multiple tweets from the president asked to “liberate” specific states and supported armed protesters who protested stay-at-home orders in Michigan.

“I never thought I would live to see the day when an American president would urge American citizens to violate the law,” Mr Inlsee said. “And he did that consciously, willfully, with his sort of dog whistle, asking people to ignore the laws of Michigan and other states, which puts people’s health in jeopardy.”

The governor described the behaviour of the president as a “low level” that he never thought a US president would reach.

“To encourage criminal misconduct is unconscionable, irresponsible, and is a good cause to be removed from office as soon as possible,” he added.

Washington’s swift action at the start of the coronavirus pandemic is said to be one reason why the state was able to curb the spread of the novel virus faster than others after first becoming a hotspot.

The state has more than 21,400 confirmed cases and 1,093 people have died from the virus.