World news: ‘Missing in action’: Trump savages Schumer in scathing letter after criticism of Covid-19 response

US President Donald Trump has penned a blistering letter slamming Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) as “missing in action” during the Covid-19 pandemic, firing back after the lawmaker attacked the federal response to the crisis.

“Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way,” the missive begins, responding to the Senate minority leader’s appeal earlier on Thursday for the appointment of a coronavirus “czar” amid what he called a “federal leadership void.”

President Trump is a SAVAGE

He wrote this letter to @SenSchumer and called him out on all of the lies he has told and finished it off with:

“No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win.”

Amazing. pic.twitter.com/A5SFZY4QBv
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) April 2, 2020

Had Schumer “spent less time on [the] ridiculous impeachment hoax … New York would not have been so completely unprepared” to deal with the outbreak – which has infected more than 92,000 and killed over 2,300 in the state – Trump continued. Besides looking to score public relations points in the press, the lawmaker has been “missing in action” in the fight against the virus.

No wonder [New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez] and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win.

Inviting Schumer to call with any questions he might have, the letter concludes on an even harsher note: “I’ve known you for many years, but I never knew how bad a senator you are ...until I became president.”

The withering response was hailed by the president’s supporters as the “best letter ever,” some even putting it on par with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Best letter ever https://t.co/7zB9w7SKLz
— Save See’s Candy Cernovich (@Cernovich) April 2, 2020

This is better than the Gettysburg Address. https://t.co/aiDCrMYGBu
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) April 2, 2020

This is probably the most epic letter any president has ever sent to a lawmaker.

Good for @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/xD1tSxW2q1
— Richard Baris (@Peoples_Pundit) April 2, 2020

Critics, however, slammed Trump for shifting blame for a slow response to the virus, arguing the letter was nothing more than a presidential “temper tantrum” and a show of immaturity.