Former Trump adviser says president needs to think further ahead in coronavirus response

Former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said Sunday that President Trump needs to think further ahead as he responds to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bossert said on ABC’s “This Week” that he would advise the president “to lift his gaze” and think about the challenges the U.S. faces rather than day-to-day issues.

“I know what I’d be telling the president right now would be to lift his gaze,” he said. “He’s looking 10 feet – and it seems to me a lot of our leaders are looking 10 feet in front of their bumper right now.”

“He needs to be looking 20 yards, 200 yards and as far in front of his headlights as he can or we’re gonna end up having shortages or shortfalls in our vaccine manufacturing capabilities,” he added. 

Tom Bossert advises President Trump “to lift his gaze” in COVID-19 response.

“A lot of our leaders are looking 10 feet in front of their bumper right now … (Trump) needs to be looking 20 yards, 200 yards and as far in front of his headlights as he can.” https://t.co/ihz67Z7HuR pic.twitter.com/dH6GcoR1wI

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 5, 2020

The president’s former adviser said the Trump administration needs to consider how to produce enough vaccines for all Americans and how to convey the “extremely difficult and massive mobilization of effort and testing that’s going to come ahead of tomorrow and the next day.”

Bossert also said federal officials “didn’t pivot into some common sense approaches” initially.

The president’s critics have said the administration acted too slowly in its coronavirus response. But Trump officials have defended the administration’s actions, pointing to the president’s order banning travel from China by foreign nationals in January.

The virus has spread across the U.S., infecting more than 312,200 and killing at least 8,503 people, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.