In response to yet another week of historically high numbers of people filing for unemployment benefits – a total of more than 61 million since March – amid the economic collapse caused by Trump’s failed pandemic response, Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room Director Zac Petkanas released the following statement:
“This is untenable. Week after week, the unemployment numbers remain historically and drastically high. The families that these numbers represent are struggling every single day to put food on the table, stave off eviction, and find their way through this crisis without any real assistance.
“This devastating economic collapse is a direct consequence of Donald Trump’s failure to get the virus under control and to provide assistance to struggling families.
“He has spent months deliberately misleading the American people to downplay the severity of the virus, undermining his own experts, and mocking mitigation efforts. On top of that, he and Congressional Republicans have impeded any effort to extend additional aid to impacted families and have actually sought to cut their unemployment benefits.
“Yet, he won’t do the singular thing that will actually fix the economy – listen to the experts begging him to act decisively to stop the spread of the disease.”