Event Video HERE
During a post-debate event this morning, Senator Sherrod Brown, Rep. Donna Shalala, and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson responded to Donald Trump’s debate performance where he mocked the economic concerns of American families that are struggling as a result of his botched pandemic response.
The event highlighted Trump’s blatant disregard for the economic insecurity facing millions of Americans, including thousands of union workers who have been laid off as a result. As 8 million Americans are pushed into poverty, record numbers file for unemployment, and layoffs continue to decimate communities, Donald Trump continues to make matters worse with his continued failure to get the virus under control and offer a meaningful COVID relief package that would actually help the families that need it.
Event Video Available Here
“We saw last night, again, that Donald Trump doesn’t understand the struggles that families face. There are 23 million Americans – half a million of those in my state of Ohio – who are out of work because President Trump failed to get this pandemic under control. The stock market is up, so Trump and McConnell seem to think everything is just fine,” said Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “They’re oblivious to the families who are staring at a stack of bills, who lost the $600 UI a week because Trump and McConnell took it away, and who don’t know what to do. We need to start with listening to the public health experts, send resources and assistance to local communities, and get money into people’s pockets to pay the bills. That’s how we get people back to their jobs and their paychecks and their lives.”
“Donald Trump has turned a crisis into a tragedy of unbelievable dimensions. And he thinks the election is about him. The election is not about him or any other candidate, the election is about people’s lives. And the lives of their families,” said Representative Donna Shalala (FL-27). “Yesterday, I passed out food at one of our long food lines and what struck me – and I’ve been doing this every week – what struck me is the number of middle class families in which both parents have lost their jobs, grandparents have lost their jobs, who have never had to have to get in line to get food for their families before. They’ve run out of their savings. Donald Trump should see them: the tears in their eyes, their fear about the future, their unwillingness to give up on this country or even the leaders that speak to them and listen to them.”
“At every turn, he [Trump] has downplayed that, and told people to ignore it and put the rest of us at risk, cost more lives, and now our entire economy is on the line. 8 million people have fallen into poverty during this time. Half of my union is on furlough with no healthcare right now after they served as essential workers on the frontlines, and we are kicking them to the curb,” said Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. “These are middle class families who now cannot pay their mortgage, cannot pay their rent, are having to turn off the cable bill, are stuffing as much of their belongings into their cars with their children as they can, and trying to survive. That’s what’s going on out here, and that’s what he mocked last night. And that’s what we have to fix.”