Former national security adviser Susan Rice penned a heated scolding of President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus crisis in an editorial for The New York Times on Tuesday.

In the op-ed, the former assistant secretary of state for African affairs details how she feels Trump has dropped the ball in handling the pandemic and how he may unnecessarily risk the lives of thousands more Americans.

“In wartime, we expect our leaders to provide truthful accounts of the enemy’s treachery and a sober rendering of the costs of battle, as Franklin Roosevelt did after Pearl Harbor. By contrast, President Trump spent weeks playing down Covid-19, comparing it to the flu, and in January claimed: 'We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine,'" Rice wrote. 

Specifically, she criticizes the Trump administration for shelving its pandemic playbook, ignoring credible initial warnings of the threat created by the outbreak and dragging their feet when it came to combating the spread of the virus. 

“In the case of coronavirus, the Trump administration shelved the war plan, or pandemic 'playbook,' prepared by the Obama administration,” Rice wrote. “It disbanded the National Security Council office established to provide early warning and ensure preparedness, and disregarded the intelligence community’s warnings that a global pandemic was likely.”

Many times throughout the piece, Rice compares the outbreak to wartime. United States health officials have estimated between 100,000 to 200,000 people will perish from the virus. By contrast, there were nearly 112,000 casualties in the Iraq War. Trump’s administration argues the number would have been much higher if the president had not banned travel to the U.S. from China when he did.

“Worse, the Trump team wasted two critical months, as the virus swept to our shores, before starting to send forces into battle,” Rice wrote. “Its failure to act quickly, upon receiving warning in early January of a novel coronavirus, to create and distribute enough functional tests to track the disease, or to help states add hospital beds, procure critical equipment and recruit health care workers, ensured we started the fight trapped behind enemy lines.”

Rice ended the essay pleading with the commander in chief to start being the leader he said he would be during his campaign trail. But she isn't too hopeful. 

“It’s in our common interest that Mr. Trump stop trash-talking and start leading with the decency and resolve that we deserve,” Rice concluded. “But let’s not kid ourselves: Until America changes command, we are condemned to fight with the leader we have.”

Rice isn’t the only one offended by the Trump administration's coronavirus response, and she has also taken issue with the president belittling women. 

At a White House coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump told PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor to "be nice" and to not be "threatening" in response to a question about Trump's claim that U.S. governors were hoarding supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic. 

Rice tweeted in support of Alcindor and blasted men who refuse to let strong women do their job, as Blavity previously reported. 

"You go, girl," the tweet read. "Pathetic when insecure men can’t stomach strong black women."

Rice told MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell that she should have tweeted about Trump targeting "strong women" in general. 

"Because he has a particular problem, it seems, with black women. But I think as was pointed out in your earlier segment, it’s a problem that applies to women with strong personalities and a willingness to stand up for themselves and their beliefs across the board," she said.

In November 2018, journalist April Ryan wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post titled: "I’m a black woman. Trump loves insulting people like me."

The piece referenced comments Trump made to Alcindor, CNN's Abby Phillip and politicians like Rep. Maxine Waters.

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