Amanda Kloots is calling President Donald Trump’s tweet about COVID-19 “beyond hurtful.”
The widow of Broadway star Nick Cordero, who died at age 41 after a 95-day battle with the coronavirus, shared several emotional posts on Instagram Monday after reading the president’s remarks about his own COVID-19 diagnosis.
Trump had tweeted Monday that Americans shouldn’t “be afraid” of COVID-19 after he left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center despite still being infected with the virus. “Don’t let it dominate your life,” he wrote. “We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
The tweet, consistent with Trump’s constant downplaying of the virus, implied that those who die of COVID-19 are weak and suggested that Americans should not fear a virus that has killed over 210,000 people in the United States under his watch.
“I’m honestly not a very political person, but this is really kind of hard to ignore,” Kloots said on Instagram Stories in response to the president’s remark. “I’m sitting here in my house and I’m honestly frozen. I can’t even move. I couldn’t believe what I read.”
“Not everyone’s lucky enough to walk out of the hospital after two days,” continued Kloots, who is now parenting her 1-year-old son Elvis by herself. “We are afraid, we are. I still am. I think about if I got it, if I got as sick as Nick, little Elvis, he doesn’t have his mom anymore. So I’m afraid.”
Kloots also took issue with Trump’s advice that Americans not let the global pandemic “dominate” their lives.
“Nick didn’t let it. It wasn’t a choice,” she said as she fought back tears in another Instagram story. “It dominated his life, it dominated my life, it dominated our family’s lives for 95 days and because he didn’t make it, it will forever affect my life. Even if he would have survived, it would have forever affected and changed our lives.”
Kloots concluded her plea on Instagram Stories with some harsh words about the president’s attitude toward the pandemic and his job as commander in chief.
“It’s beyond hurtful. Have some empathy. Why are you bragging?” she asked. “To act like this disease is nothing and you got right over it. I’m so happy that you did. Thank God you did. But guess what? There are a lot of people that didn’t.”
Kloots also posted numerous images of Trump’s tweet to her Instagram Stories, calling his words a “slap in the face.”
“No decent human” would publish what Trump tweeted, Kloots said in one image.
She also endorsed Joe Biden for president.
Earlier on Monday, Kloots posted a photo of herself and Cordero to mark the three-month anniversary of his death.
“It’s been three months today since you’ve passed,” she captioned the photo. “The 5ths will always be a bit tough for me. Not a day goes by that you aren’t thought about and missed.”
She added to her followers:
“Please wear a mask. Please continue to be take this seriously.”