“Donald Trump has failed time and time again to do what is right to address this pandemic head on”
YPSILANTI– Today, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes, House Democratic Floor Leader Yousef Rabhi, and small business CEO Stephen Lange Ranzini held a virtual press conference highlighting Donald Trump’s failed COVID-19 response ahead of his desperate Michigan campaign events.
After Trump spent months calling COVID-19 a Democratic hoax and downplaying the threat, frontline health care workers in Michigan were forced to treat patients without PPE and hospitals faced a ventilator shortage. Now, while the economy continues to spiral downward and over 5,000 Michiganders have died, Trump is threatening to withhold funding from Michigan over an expansion of absentee voting as he travels to the state to take a victory lap over his inadequate response.
“While nurses in Detroit hospitals went without PPE, Donald Trump was sitting on his hands and telling us to figure things out ourselves,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes. “When we were facing severe ventilator shortages weeks ago, he attacked hospitals for hoarding them. When Detroit became a hotspot and hundreds were dying, he told Mike Pence, ‘don’t talk to that woman from Michigan.’ Now, after months of neglect and disinterest, Trump thinks he can win Detroit’s black community with a cheap messaging stunt. Let me be very clear: it’s not going to happen.”
“Thousands of our fellow Michiganders have passed away and many more have been infected with the coronavirus–– this is a disaster of epic proportions,” said House Democratic Floor Leader Yousef Rabhi. “What Donald Trump has been doing has only further worsened this crisis. Our country has had one of the worst responses and that is squarely on the leadership in the federal government. Donald Trump has failed time and time again to do what is right to address this pandemic head on. Trump’s trip this week to Washtenaw County is indicative of the problem–– he should not be going on a parade to highlight himself at a time when people are dying and people are continuing to lose their jobs.”
“With my role in the bank, I get a broad perspective on the area’s economy, and from what I can see things look awful,” said Stephen Lange Ranzini. “Our bank’s clients generally believe that our state government is doing the right thing trying to flatten the curve and mitigate the damage done by this pandemic, but they are fearful and scared. Many people in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti feel that President Donald Trump and the federal government have failed them. The small businesses I work with don’t see an end to this in sight. Our federal government was woefully unprepared to handle a pandemic and most local citizens believe it has made insufficient progress on addressing how to bring the pandemic to an end. As a result, our small business community is being forced past their breaking point.”
