British presenter Piers Morgan criticized President Donald Trump for "hiding in his bunker" instead of leading America out of a dark period in its history.
In an op-ed for The Daily Mail, Morgan addressed the police killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed.
"I understand the rage of the protesters," Morgan wrote. "Yet the one person who could most powerfully effect change is doing the complete opposite."
The op-ed continued:
President Trump had one job to do after this terrible killing – and that was to heal the raging wounds of fellow Americans.To speak to them from the Oval Office, with love, and respect and empathy.
To say he understood their anger and would do everything in his power to stop more black people like George Floyd being killed by the very people charged with protecting their lives.
But instead of healing the country, Morgan said that Trump "poured fuel onto the fire."
"So, here was the President of the United States effectively telling black people protesting at the murder of a black man by a police officer that more black people were now going to be killed by police officers," he continued. "As he always does, Trump has reacted to justified criticism by repeatedly lashing out at the ‘fake news media’, and unsurprisingly, a large number of journalists have been targeted by police in the past few days – arrested, pepper sprayed and shot at with rubber bullets."
Morgan called the president "a total disgrace."
"The world is in crisis from a deadly virus and crying out for strong leadership," he pointed out. "Normally, this would be led by the United States of America. But America is today in utter chaos, with the worst COVID-19 death toll, 40 million job losses, a devastated economy and now the worst racial equality riots since MLK was assassinated in 1968."
According to Morgan, Trump's response was to "self-implode – hurling off his own verbal fire-bombs and then hiding in his bunker as they explode."
The British personality concluded by comparing Trump to Emperor Nero.
"America, already reeling from coronavirus, is now engulfed with anarchy," he said. "And the President is shamefully fiddling as it burns."
