Virginia Democrat blasts Trump’s ‘appalling’ remark about COVID-19 deaths in ‘blue states’

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) blasted President Trump on Wednesday after Trump blamed “blue states” for the nation’s death toll from the coronavirus. 

Beyer said Trump’s remark at Wednesday’s White House briefing was “quite simply one of the most appalling and inhuman statements ever uttered by an American President.”

This is quite simply one of the most appalling and inhuman statements ever uttered by an American President. https://t.co/YTSyBuFP47

— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) September 16, 2020

Beyer added in an additional tweet, “2,884 Virginians have died during this pandemic. Their lives matter. The people they left behind feel pain at their loss. They deserve better than erasure by a president who thinks they are expendable because he only understands human lives in terms of their value to himself.”

2,884 Virginians have died during this pandemic. Their lives matter. The people they left behind feel pain at their loss.

They deserve better than erasure by a president who thinks they are expendable because he only understands human lives in terms of their value to himself. https://t.co/CWYCSe5RqP

— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) September 16, 2020

The U.S. has reported more coronavirus cases and fatalities than any other country, with more than 6.6 million cases and more than 196,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.  

Trump argued during the White House briefing that the U.S. handled the coronavirus pandemic well compared to other countries “despite the fact that the blue states had tremendous death rates.” 

“If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at,” the president added. 

The coronavirus pandemic has widely spread across the U.S. in both states that voted for Trump in 2016 and states that voted for then-candidate Hillary Clinton. 

Democrats for months have criticized Trump for dividing Americans into “red” and “blue” states during the pandemic.