Amanda Kloots has received an outpouring of support after slamming Donald Trump for telling Americans not to “be afraid” of coronavirus. Hailey Baldwin re-posted Amanda’s message on her Instagram Story, as did Maren Morris, who added, “Your words are so powerful and necessary. I’m so sorry for your loss.” On Twitter, Laura Benanti wrote, “I’m not surprised by the ‘President’s callous and disgusting selfishness, but I’m still horrified. [Amanda Kloots], who lost her husband to COVID-19, said it best.”
Jesse Tyler Ferguson re-posted Amanda’s message on Twitter, and tweeted it directly at Trump. “Here’s another take from my friend, Amanda Kloots, who didn’t have the same experience as you @RealDonaldTrump,” he wrote. Thousands of fans also weighed in with loving messages of support for Amanda, as well.
Amanda’s husband, Nick Cordero, was hospitalized with coronavirus at the end of March. He spent three months in the hospital battling complications from the virus, which led to his leg being amputated and major lung issues. On July 5, he died, leaving behind Amanda and the pair’s one-year-old son, Elvis.
Nick is just one of more than 200,000 people in the United States who have died from COVID-19, which is why Trump’s Oct. 5 statement about the virus has faced so much backlash. Trump has been battling coronavirus himself, and was briefly hospitalized from Oct. 2 until Oct. 5. After being released from the hospital, he shared his extremely insensitive message about COVID.
“Feeling really good!” he wrote. “Don’t be afraid of COVID. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” Of course — as Amanda pointed out — there are hundreds of thousands of families out there who have had no choice but to let this virus dominate their lives.
“Unfortunately it did dominate our lives, didn’t it?” she wrote. “It dominated Nick’s family’s lives and my family’s lives. I guess we ‘let it’ — like it was our choice?? Unfortunately not everyone is lucky enough to spend two days in the hospital. I cried next to my husband for 95 days watching what COVID did to the person I love. It IS something to be afraid of. After you see the person you love the most die from this disease you would never say what this tweet says. There is no empathy to all the lives lost. He is bragging instead. It is sad. It is hurtful. It is disgraceful.”