Biden accuses Trump of raising the ‘white flag’ on pandemic after White House says US won’t ‘control’ coronavirus

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has accused the Trump administration of raising the “white flag” on the coronavirus pandemic. 

Mr Biden gave a speech in Warm Springs, Georgia, on Tuesday, which largely focused on the reality Americans currently face amid the pandemic. 

On Sunday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the US is “not going to control the pandemic” when speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas,” Mr Meadows said. 

That admission, Mr Biden said, showed how the White House was raising the white flag on the novel virus. 

“It’s a waving of the white flag. It’s a window of truth into the White House,” Mr Biden told the Georgia crowd. “Think about all of those who have died … They were giving their all while the president was giving up." 

The speech included Mr Biden vowing to react differently to the pandemic compared to President Donald Trump and his administration. 

“We can and will control this virus. As president, I will never wave the white flag of surrender,” he said. 

Mr Biden went on to state that the American public would be better off with the pandemic if the president had made steps like “embracing masks” and creating a “comprehensive system of testing”. 

“I’m ready to act,” the former vice president said. 

The criticism comes at a time when the US is reporting record daily increases in cases and hospitalisations in the vast majority of states across the country. On Friday, the US posted its highest single-day number of new coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. 

Additionally, more than 33 states are reporting an increase in hospitalisations, greatly concerning health experts who are worried the mortality rate will soon follow. 

When speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania on Monday, the president attempted to walk back the statement made by his chief of staff on if his administrations could get control over the deadly virus. 

“No, not at all. In fact, the opposite. Absolutely the opposite. We’ve done an incredible job,” Mr Trump said before again claiming the country was “rounding the corner” on the virus. 

The Trump campaign released a statement on Tuesday following Mr Biden’s speech. 

Mr Biden was accused of “despicable politicisation of the coronavirus crisis”. 

“While President Trump led the nation in the unprecedented battle against the Chinese virus,  Biden sat in his basement and suggested nothing that President Trump had not already done or was doing," the statement read. 

Mr Biden has used the coronavirus pandemic as a top reason why the American public should pick him over the sitting president, claiming the Trump administration’s response has caused more deaths instead of preventing them.