Chris Wallace: Trump's facing 'balancing act' reopening US economy
Chris Wallace and Brian Kilmeade discuss President Trumps' tough task of getting America back online
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"Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace on Thursday highlighted the “political risks” President Trump is facing as he determines the appropriate time to reopen the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“You don’t want to open too soon and get people sick and spread the virus again after we’ve done all this hard work of social distancing and sheltering in place to try to bend it down,” Wallace said on Fox News Radio's “Brian Kilmeade Show.”
But on the other hand, Wallace stressed that millions of people are filing for unemployment benefits each week during the shutdown, as the economy remains largely shut down. Wallace noted that the 8.7 percent drop in March retail sales in March is about triple the amount of the 2008-2009 recession.
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Trump declared on Wednesday that the country has “passed the peak” in the number of new cases of the coronavirus and teased an upcoming announcement on guidelines the White House will offer for reopening the economy.
“The battle continues but the data indicates that we have passed the peak,” Trump said during a press briefing in the White House Rose Garden.
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The president did not reveal any details of the guidelines it will release, but said he will be making an announcement Thursday afternoon.
“We think some states may be able to open before May 1,” Trump said of the date the White House has set for continued social distancing practices in the country. “We want to get our country open again."
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Wallace said that Trump’s handling of bringing America back to work while ensuring public safety is “going to be a balancing act" and it may determine whether he wins reelection.
“We’re seeing in some places, in China and Singapore, where they have much more authoritarian governments than we have, that when they start to open up, it starts to spike again, so you don’t know what’s going to happen here.”
Wallace said that Trump’s decision has “tremendous political ramifications.”
“If the president opens up and it all goes smoothly, he’s going to get great kudos. If he opens up and we start to see a spike again, it could really hurt him in the 2020 election."
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.
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