In a Thursday speech, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ripped President Donald Trump for his useless response to the Coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying health care needs of the tens of millions of Americans who have been affected by the crisis. Routinely, Trump has focused on congratulating himself for a supposed job well done in responding to the pandemic, although over 120,000 Americans have died and many millions have been affected in other ways, like through spiking unemployment. Trump could have acted sooner with steps like an earlier nationwide stay-at-home guideline, but he preferred ignoring the crisis.
As the inescapable nature of the crisis unfolded, Trump repeatedly seemed to prioritize getting social distancing demands lifted so that the economy could be reopened. Yet, people are still getting sick and dying — the idyllic utopia of Trump’s delusions only exists in those delusions.
In a speech in which he discussed his health care policy plans that he’s ready to implement if he’s elected to the presidency, Biden commented:
‘Amazingly, he still hasn’t grasped the most basic fact of this crisis: to fix the economy we have to get control over the virus. He’s like a child who can’t believe this has happened to him. All his whining & self-pity — this pandemic didn’t happen to him. It happened to all of us, and his job isn’t to whine about it. His job is to do something about it, to lead. If I have the honor of being president, I promise you, I will lead. I will do everything I can to take responsibility and ease this burden on you and your families.’
Check out Biden’s remarks below:
Biden on Trump: "Amazingly, he still hasn't grasped the most basic fact of this crisis: to fix the economy we have to get control over the virus. He's like a child who can't believe this has happened to him. All his whining & self-pity … his job is to do something about it." pic.twitter.com/MbGiTa6o7U
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 25, 2020
In the same speech, Biden also touted the need for a public option for health coverage. He’s tried to take a somewhat middle ground between across-the-board publicly available health insurance and the current system. According to his remarks, he envisions that a public option that people can sign up for along the lines of Medicare would, among other benefits, drive private insurers to keep their prices low because of the need to compete with the public option. Meanwhile, Trump has stuck to trying to discard the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has provided health insurance to millions of people across the United States. His team has not even had a semblance of a replacement plan ready for most of their most recent efforts to discard the ACA.
After his Thursday speech, Biden added on Twitter:
‘While President Trump continues his victory lap, over 20 million Americans remain out of work. He may have forgotten about you, but I never will — and I’ll fight for you every single day in the White House.’
While President Trump continues his victory lap, over 20 million Americans remain out of work. He may have forgotten about you, but I never will — and I'll fight for you every single day in the White House. https://t.co/cuBH5ufI2f
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 25, 2020
Biden made his latest remarks as part of a livestreamed speech that was the latest replacement for a traditional campaign trail appearance. Most campaign trail appearances have been wound down amidst concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus, although that didn’t stop Trump himself from holding a recent rally in Tulsa, which ended up sparsely attended.
