Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law turned senior adviser turned “peace in the Middle East” mastermind, praised the administration on Wednesday for its response to the coronavirus. With more than 60,000 people dead from the deadly virus, Kushner said it is a “great success story.”
Kushner made the remarks on Fox & Friends, claiming that the messaging surrounding the administration’s response over the last two months should be that “the federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story.” He added, “I think that that’s really what needs to be told.”
According to CNN, Kushner was then pressed on the testing levels in the United States. The administration has oftentimes said that tests are available, even claiming at a point that everyone who wanted a test could get a test. But more than six weeks into a national emergency, hospitals and everyday Americans are still lamenting over their inability to get tested. Last week a Black medical worker in Michigan died from the virus after being denied a test on four separate occasions. Still, Kushner says it shouldn’t be a question of why access to testing has taken so long, but instead, “How did we do this so quickly?”
A number of late-night hosts took aim at the White House staffer’s seemingly ridiculous assertion. But Susan Rice, in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, struck a more serious note, calling the comments “ridiculous.” The former national security advisor to President Barack Obama said the praise of the response “would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly serious. I don’t know how anybody with a straight face can call this a great success and declare this a mission accomplished moment when more than 60,000 Americans are dead. When more than a million are infected.”
On the same day Kushner insisted that the administration should be praised for its quick turnaround on testing, Trump questioned if broad testing for the coronavirus was “even necessary.” The skepticism on the seriousness of the pandemic seems to be held by many in the administration. Though the spread of the virus has not eased, Kushner said, “By June, a lot of the country should be back to normal, and the hope is that by July the country is really rocking again.”