Today, MDP Chair Lavora Barnes, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Former Governor Jim Blanchard, and Lansing Mayor Andy Schor held a virtual press conference blasting Donald Trump for surrendering to COVID-19. The remarks come after Trump’s Chief of Staff said, “we are not going to control the pandemic,” and as cases in Michigan have spiked, reaching record highs.
“We’ve heard from these terrific folks how Trump has failed to lead us through this public health crisis. We’ve discussed how he’s put his attacks on protections for pre-existing conditions ahead of dealing with COVID-19 and is threatening health care for over 1.7 million Michiganders,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes. “In the next seven days we have an opportunity to hold Donald Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot responsible for their failures, we can vote, vote, vote. From now until November 3 every single day is Election Day and in Michigan Democrats are going to run through the tape.”
“My whole family, including my 94 year old mom, lives in Lansing. And the fact that he would be so reckless, and so irresponsible to come and be in a place where people are standing shoulder to shoulder with most without masks, and then continue to mock anybody who cares and understands what is happening to our lives and our livelihoods,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow. “And so on top of not being responsible as it relates to this pandemic, he’s actually threatening the health care of millions of people in Michigan and across the country. And then to put the icing on top of the cake, his Chief of Staff admits that they have no way of controlling the pandemic, which is not true by the way. Every other country in the world has gotten their arms around this much better than we have. But they’re saying we can’t control the pandemic and they’re just going to wait the months or year or longer whenever for a vaccine. Well, we don’t give up, they may give up, we don’t give up. And we in Michigan understand that we’ve got to get this under control and to do that it’s very simple. We have to have Joe Biden, as our president, we have to have Gary Peters reelected to the United States Senate.”
“It’s tragic that the Trump administration would be trying to eliminate health care for 780,000 Michiganders, which is currently provided by the Affordable Care Act. This is not leadership. I’ve seen leadership. I know what I had to do when Michigan had a financial crisis. I saw Barack Obama and Joe Biden when we had a recession. What did they do among other things? They helped save General Motors and Chrysler,” said former Governor Jim Blanchard. “We need a president who will have a national strategy like Joe Biden, a strategy that works with all 50 governors whether they’re Democrats or Republicans. A strategy which allows financial assistance to state and local communities to cope with the effects of the virus. A national strategy which requires people to have masks.”
“I can’t stress enough that Lansing needs a president right now who supports us. We need a president with a plan for COVID response. Cities have had to go at it alone. I’ve talked to colleagues throughout the country, and everyone’s trying to figure out the best response and the best way to answer this, this, this terrible pandemic,” said Lansing Mayor Andy Schor. “Thankfully here in Michigan we have a governor who took immediate action, so we’re lucky. We have a statewide response that we can work with, we’ve got our county response, but we haven’t seen what we need from the federal government. We’re not seeing that we’re turning the corner – we’re seeing numbers go up, and we’re seeing a second wave.”
