Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is doubling down on his criticism of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, insisting the president is “his own worst enemy.”
During an interview on “Good Morning America” on Friday, Hogan reiterated that he has maintained an unbiased view of the president, as he said he has commended him for good work and criticized his administration where they fell short.
According to Hogan, his stance has remained the same since the beginning of the pandemic — he believes the president should focus on listening to the advice given by top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“I do think that sometimes the president still ought to focus on listening to people like Dr. Anthony Fauci, listening to the folks at the CDC and really taking really good advice of some of the people on his team working hard and doing a good job rather than just, you know, kind of changing their message and changing the position,” Hogan said.
The Republican governor went on to share his opinion of Trump’s reactions and tweets highlighting unfounded information and false claims. According to Hogan, Trump is his “own worst enemy.”
Hogan continued, “Sometimes I think he just reacts. He’s his own worst enemy by coming out and just tweeting something that makes no sense and goes against what everyone else in the administration is saying.”
See Hogan’s remarks below:
.@GovLarryHogan on Pres. Trump: “He’s his own worst enemy by coming out and tweeting something that makes no sense and goes against what everyone in the administration is saying.” https://t.co/eNXGHyoMIR pic.twitter.com/IS7BNnqZz9
— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 17, 2020
Hogan also discussed the Republican Governors Association, an organization which he chairs. When asked about Republican governors and their sentiments of the Trump administration behind closed doors, he offered insight on some of the governors’ perspectives on Trump.
While many are supportive of the president, they have also expressed concern about his actions.
“There’s no secret, I think, that there are other Republican elected officials, both governors and senators and congressmen who have some frustrations, you know, that while they may be supportive of the president they still have some pretty big concerns about some of the shortcomings and the things that have gone wrong,” Hogan said.
Hogan recently penned an op-ed in The Washington Post where he wrote, “Eventually, it was clear that waiting around for the president to run the nation’s response was hopeless; if we delayed any longer, we’d be condemning more of our citizens to suffering and death. So every governor went their own way, which is how the United States ended up with such a patchwork response.”
Over the last several weeks, the United States has experienced an accelerated surge in coronavirus cases.
A total of 38 states are dealing with upticks in coronavirus case numbers, as well as several states facing increased infection rates and hospitalizations as the president continues to tweet messages downplaying the pandemic.
Trump and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are also demanding that schools reopen or suffer potential defunding — directives that have received blowback from many leaders on state and local levels.
As of Friday morning, there are more than 3.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States.
