Dennis Quaid Trends for Praising Trump's Coronavirus Response, Slammed by Fans

Many Americans disapprove of how President Donald Trump's is handling the coronavirus pandemic, but Dennis Quaid is not one of them.

In an interview with The Daily Beast published Wednesday, the actor, 63, praised the President's response to the global health crisis, saying he thinks Trump is "doing a good job."

"I think the president is handling it in a good way. We see him on television every day, he's involved, and the travel ban early on was a great idea -- which he did in spite of protest about that," Quaid explained. "But I don't want to get into the protest. I'm an independent -- I've voted both ways throughout my life, swinging like a pendulum toward what the country needed at the time -- and I think this might be an opportunity for the country to come together again."

"World War II did that for that generation, and this might be our defining moment of a generation," he continued. "It's going to be a different world, for sure, when all this is over, and hopefully we can all be a bit more unified."

When the reporter noted the country's shortage of medical supplies was due in part to the Trump administration's sending a shipment to China back in February -- despite being briefed COVID-19 was going to soon hit the US -- Quaid defended 45's decision, saying he was "trying to defeat the virus at its source at that time."

Quaid said he thinks the people of New York -- the US' epicenter for the pandemic -- are "doing their best to get them everything they need," and asked the reporter if he's heard of anyone dying in the state due to lack of ventilators. In response, the journalist corrected Quaid while noting how some states have received the number of ventilators they need, while New York has not.

To this, "The Parent Trap" star claimed the state "had a chance to buy thousands of ventilators at a very good price like two years ago," while also mentioning he thinks New York Governor Andrew Cuomo "is doing a great job."

Quaid then doubled down on his support of Trump, saying, "I think Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is doing a good job at trying to get these states -- and all of the American people -- what they need, and also trying to hold our economy together and be prepared for when this is all over."

"I don't want to get into petty arguments about it," he added.

"The Intruder" actor also suggested Trump's impeachment trial delayed the government's response to the pandemic.

"Trump did do the travel ban to China, and then to Europe very quickly afterward," Quaid said, "and he was castigated by a lot of members of Congress, who were just getting out of the impeachment, that it was racist what he was doing. It's a good thing we had that travel ban at the time.

"You know, the world has never experienced this, and I don't think it's a time to be political. I think it's just time to get behind our government and have everybody do what they can. If you want to point blame after, that's another story, but right now I think we all just really need to come together on this," he concluded, adding that he appreciates Trump's daily briefings. "I think they have great people handling it. Just one more thing out side of that: Despite presidents, Congress, and political parties, this is the United States of America, and we're a very adaptable people in situations like this, and I think we're all going to get through it. My heart goes out to everyone."

Despite Quaid saying his comments weren't politically-influenced, many people didn't take the remarks lightly and absolutely ripped the actor on social media, earning him the top trending topic slot on Twitter Wednesday morning.

Check out some of the backlash, below.

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