Trump is closing the campaign by telling America to 'drop dead': CNN's Paul Begala

President Donald Trump is still claiming that America has "rounded the corner" on the novel coronavirus pandemic even as infections over the weekend surged to record highs.

CNN political analyst Paul Begala on Monday argued that Trump's efforts to pretend the pandemic is no longer a problem were falling flat, and he said seniors in particular were moving away from the president.

Begala also shredded White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for saying the administration isn't even trying to contain the pandemic.

"That interview with Mark Meadows, the headline today should be, 'Trump to nation: Drop dead,'" he said. "I have to say that's not a very good message to voters eight days before an election."

Former GOP strategist Mark McKinnon shared Begala's assessment and argued that the pandemic is now spiking at the worst possible time for the president.

"So I sat down with Paul Begala in February... and said, 'Paul, what would be the best thing that could happen to you and the Democratic Party in this election?" McKinnon recalled. "He would say first of all, we nominate a very centrist familiar guy that people know well, Joe Biden. Second, we would have the incumbent president of the United States be a victim of the very health crisis that's badly managing. Three, a week out from the election, it would be spiking everywhere and four, you'd have the chief of staff saying basically we can't do anything about it."

Watch the video below.