LANSING– Yesterday, DNC Chair Tom Perez, Lt Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, and Congressman Andy Levin held a virtual press conference blasting Trump’s failed record on jobs and the Michigan economy. The speakers addressed the disparate impact on the black community, Trump’s disastrous trade deal with China, and his erratic and delayed response to COVID-19.
Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist began the conversation by emphasizing the unique challenges the economy is facing due to the pandemic. Gilchrist claimed that these challenges are being exacerbated by the failed leadership and lack of national strategy from the Trump administration. He said that while leaders of other levels of government have really worked to step up to the crisis, there is a lack of accountability from the Trump administration.
U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., criticized President Donald Trump’s delayed response to COVID-19 and his decision to overlook China’s cover-up of the virus to secure a trade deal that did nothing to protect American workers and farmers.
“Despite Trump’s promise that Michigan wouldn’t lose a single plant, auto workers of Michigan in Dearborn and Hamtramck lost their jobs as factories shuttered and downsized,” Levin said. “We’re experiencing the worst unemployment since the Great Depression all because Trump failed to prepare for this crisis.”
DNC Chair Tom Perez spoke about the report and emphasized how the report understates the hardships faced by those seeking full-time employment. According to Perez, 19.6 million jobs were lost over the last three months. He put this number into perspective by comparing the current employment loss number to the worst three months of the Obama administration, where 2.3 million jobs were lost.
“(Trump) is competing with Herbert Hoover to see who can preside over the greatest job loss in at least the last 100 years,” Perez said. “To call this job report the greatest comeback in history is kind of like saying because you were 42 points behind in a football game and now you are 35 points behind, we should spike the football. It’s ludicrous.”
