In response to numbers released today showing a historically high 898,000 people filed for unemployment last week, Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room Director Zac Petkanas released the following statement:
“The results of Donald Trump’s failures could not be clearer as today’s catastrophic unemployment numbers show how dire the situation remains for millions of families across the country.
“After tanking the economy with his botched pandemic response and allowing the economic impacts to build as the virus continues to ravage communities across the country, Trump has refused to do the one thing we know would help: let the experts lead to get the pandemic under control.
“Forty percent of the country’s labor force – more than 64 million people – have filed for unemployment since the beginning of this crisis and 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since May, and yet, the White House and Congressional Republicans are determined to block any serious effort to extend relief for the families that need it.
“As if we needed even more proof of Donald Trump’s contempt for the families who’ve been broadsided by his economic collapse, we’re now learning Trump Administration officials offered their board member friends a golden parachute when they privately informed them about the impending danger of the pandemic. While they fueled a stock sell-off, Trump boasted to the America people that he had everything under control.
“It’s disgraceful that Donald Trump and his economic advisors didn’t have the same concern for the financial well-being of the American people as they did for their wealthy donors. And it’s worse that he continues to hang them out to dry eight months into this crisis.”