U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez say President Trump has “failed the people of Wisconsin” over his handling of the COVID-19 economic crisis and ensuing protests over racial disparities.
Perez and Moore in a webinar yesterday told reporters Trump is overseeing “Depression-era” job losses across the country. They touted former Vice President and presumptive Dem nominee Joe Biden’s experience overseeing the 2008 Great Recession recovery as a reason why he would be a better steward of the economy.
Moore further criticized the Trump administration for a “lack of work and effort” on pushing the HEROES Act coronavirus relief package through the Republican-Controlled Senate.
“As the president and the Justice Department continue to politicize the notion of deconstruction police departments and defunding them, they are in fact defunding police departments to continue to deny local governments the monies that they need that are to be provided through the HEROES Act,” Moore said.
Perez claimed Trump is the first president to see a net job loss through his tenure since at least Herbert Hoover. He said the United States now has a 12.7 million net job loss since Trump assumed office.
“And he calls that joyous,” Perez said. “That is anything but joyous. And for communities of color, it’s even worse.”
Perez noted how the unemployment rate for African Americans rose to 14.2 percent from 12.4 percent in the U.S. Labor Department’s May jobs report, even as overall unemployment fell to 13.3 percent from 14.7 percent.
But Trump Victory spokesperson Anna Kelly told WisPolitics.com “it is no surprise” Biden hasn’t personally campaigned in Wisconsin since the coronavirus began, “given his long history of mismanaging the economy and failing the black community.”
“Biden is already facing the music of his disastrous record and his party’s radical calls to defund the police, and he will lose in November,” she said.
Kelly pointed out the 2.5 million job gain in May outpaced many predictions of another month of multi-million job losses. And she warned such calls to defund or abolish the police could slow any economic recovery through a potential increase in looting.
Meanwhile, Perez said he didn’t yet know how many people will attend the August Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee since the COVID-19 pandemic creates many unknowns.
But he added he was confident the convention will be in the city in some capacity.
“We don’t know what the public health situation on the ground will be,” Perez said. “Unlike Donald Trump, we are actually going to listen to the public health experts as we come to Milwaukee.”
He claimed the Republican National Convention moved its host city from Charlotte to Jacksonville because the former wouldn’t let Trump “conduct an ego fest” with large crowds during a pandemic.
