Trump Blasts Obama For Criticizing US Coronavirus Response: 'Grossly Incompetent'

Continuing his tactic of blasting President Donald Trump for his COVID-19 mismanagement but not naming him directly, former President Barack Obama again tore into Trump in two scathing speeches to American high school graduates over the weekend.

At the televised "Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020" event Saturday hosted by NBA star LeBron James, Obama accused Trump of thinking like a little kid and being a so-called grown-up -- without naming names but with everyone knowing who Obama was referring to.

"Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy, that’s how little kids think," said Obama to the graduating seniors. "Unfortunately a lot of so-called grownups, including some with fancy titles, important jobs, still think that way, which is why things are so screwed up."

The Saturday event included appearances from the Jonas Brothers, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, hit singer and composer Pharrell Williams, country singer Maren Morris and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai.

Obama blasted Trump again at a virtual commencement ceremony for graduates of historically black colleges and universities. It was Obama's most public and harshest criticism of Trump's and his administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to date.

"More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing," he said. "A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge."

Trump's terse response to this twin barreled blast was calling Obama "grossly incompetent." His full statement said, "Look, he was an incompetent president. That’s all I can say. Grossly incompetent.”

Obama has largely avoided criticizing Trump since he stepped down as president. The COVID-19 pandemic, Trump's bungled response to it and the death toll now standing at more than 90,000 Americans has apparently goaded Obama into becoming a leading critic.

Trump, however, is still being held accountable for allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to rage out of control. Trump's inaction in February and early March is still being held aloft as examples of his incompetent response to the pandemic.

Some medical experts still contend that Trump, if he acted on the advice of medical professionals, would most likely have spared the U.S. from the 1.5 million cases and over 90,000 deaths saddling it today.

Trump's long history of denying the severity of COVID-19 began January 22, the day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first COVID-19 case in the United States. At a news conference Trump falsely claimed the U.S. has coronavirus "totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

And on February 26, Trump made his since widely derided comment that "The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days. We’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time.”