Current Vice President Mike Pence is being called out for not being able to lead in a time of need due to his track record.
Donald Trump recently appointed Pence to lead the U.S. response to the growing coronavirus outbreak. However, this decision was met with backlash from experts who agree that Pence just isn’t a good fit.
Due to the decisions made in his political career over the years, many do not have faith in Pence. In fact, many had highlighted his inability to put a stop to an HIV crisis in 2015 after he cut the budget for Planned Parenthood and other public health funding as ‘an attempt to introduce needle exchange programs’ when he was governor in Indiana, The Guardian reports.
Pence also once made the statement, “smoking doesn’t kill,” when he was an aspiring congressman, causing many not to trust his judgment as a person in charge.
“We have the greatest experts, really in the world, right here,” Trump said at a news conference on Wednesday, speaking on Pence. In response, the V.P. said, ”We have no higher priority than the safety, security, and health of the American people.”
However, experts are stating otherwise.
Gregg Gonsalves, assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University, took to Twitter to explain in a series of tweets, why Pence is a bad fit, stating, “[Trump] made the choice of putting someone absolutely not up to the task to this crucial position.”
“It endangers us all. This isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue – we have the potential for [a coronavirus] outbreak in the U.S., and we needed to rise above the partisan fray,” he added. “It’s like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department, a bank robber in charge of the U.S. Mint.”
