Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez on Friday blamed President Trump for the horrific job losses in April when the unemployment rate skyrocketed to a Great Depression-level of 14.7%.
“The first thing you need to know about this jobs report is not just a number. It’s not a statistic. The first thing you need to know is that this was preventable,” Mr. Perez said in a statement.
He also blamed Mr. Trump and Republican leaders for the more than 75,000 deaths from the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
“The United States accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but more than a quarter of its confirmed coronavirus deaths. This is not a coincidence,” he said. “This is the result of a historic failure of leadership on the part of Donald Trump and Republican leaders.”
The Labor Department jobs report Friday illuminated the depth of the economic crisis since state governments shuttered businesses and ordered people to stay at home to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the deadly respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
The unemployment rate was at a five-decade low of 3.5% in February and ticked up to 4.4% in March before skyrocketing in April when 20.5 million more Americans lost jobs.
“The only thing more staggering than this jobs report is the incompetence that caused it,” said Mr. Perez, who accused the president of denying the threat of the virus despite early warnings.
Mr. Perez and other Democrats have said the Trump administration should have acted more quickly, possibly closing down the economy sooner.
On Friday, Mr. Perez faulted Mr. Trump for trying to reopen the economy too quickly.
“He declared ’mission accomplished’ and shifted his focus away from public health and toward quickly reopening the country as infection rates continue to rise across most of the country,” he said. “Instead of taking responsibility, Trump has spent his time shifting blame, and the American people are the ones paying the price for his lack of leadership.”
Mr. Perez concluded that the American people know Mr. Trump is to blame for the global pandemic and the economic nightmare from the shutdown, and he predicted they would replace him with Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden in November.
“The American people are hungry for new leadership. They know the blame lies at Donald Trump’s feet, and they are going to make him pay the price in November when they elect Joe Biden as the next president of the United States,” he said. “Not only will he help Americans recover from this crisis and Trump’s disastrous administration, he will build a new era of prosperity and create millions of good-paying jobs.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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