Reinforcing the theme that people would not be safe with another four years as Donald Trump as President, 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden, in an event on safely reopening schools, labeled Mr. Trump and his Republican Allies in Congress as Know-Nothings who are not taking the right steps to relieve the stress on the country and the people thanks to their mishandling of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Speaking first on safely reopening schools, the former Vice President reminded the audience that education would not be in this situation "If President Trump and his administration had done their jobs early on with this crisis, America’s schools would be open and they’d be open safely."
Biden went further, stating:
"Protecting our students, our educators, our communities, getting our schools open safely and effectively, this is a national emergency, but President Trump still doesn’t have any real plan for how to open our schools safely, no real plan for how to help parents feel secure for their children. He’s offering nothing but failure and delusions."
"Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos, Secretary DeVos, haven’t stepped up and we’re all seeing the results. Millions of students are now starting the new school year in the same way they finished the last one, at home. At home. Parents are doing their best, but more and more, were finding themselves at wit’s end, struggling to balance work and childcare and educational duties, or worrying about their lost paycheck and how they’ll make ends meet while trying to keep their kids on track with remote learning. Educators are taking on countless hours of additional training to learn how to use remote learning tools so they can still be there for their students, but they’re worried about all the kids who used to count on our schools, all those children who need it so badly, and particularly those children who need more than the education and they provide their meals and safe places to spend the day."
The former Vice President then outlined what he would do, reminding the journalists and viewers that he had released his plans in June and July on how to safely reopen schools. Referring people to fully survey his plans on JoeBiden.com, he stated that he would:
- Have attended to this emergency during the early summer instead of waiting until now.
- Provide K-12 students with "full disaster relief."
- Ensure that "PPE and sanitation supplies for school qualify as emergency protective measures."
- Work with Congress to "pass emergency packages for schools so they have the resources they need in order to be able to open safely, money for ventilation."
- Ask for more monies to hire more instructors to reduce class sizes and keep children socially distant and safe.
- Demand more funds for school psychologists and counselors.
- Provide the $200 billion school leaders say they would need to safely reopen.
- Also fund vital aid for community colleges, trade schools. and universities to safely reopen.
Biden concluded his remarks by stating:
"Democratic leaders are ready to get this done. They’ve already proposed legislation. Mr. President, where are you? Where are you? Why aren’t you working on this? We need emergency support funding for our schools and we need it now. Mr. President, that’s your job. That’s your job. That’s what you should be focused on now. Getting our kids back to school safely. Keeping schools safely able to remain open once they open. Not whipping up fear and division. Not inciting violence in our streets. Get off Twitter and start talking to the congressional leaders in both parties. Invite them to the Oval Office, the Oval Office, and stop your boast about never being seemed at what you can do anything. You always talk about your ability to negotiate. Negotiate a deal. A deal for somebody other than yourself."
The Democratic Presidential Nominee then took questions from reporters for about 20 minutes.
Highlights of those exchanges were:
- Should the police who shot Jacob Blake and Breona Taylor be charged?
"I think we should let the judicial system work its way. I do think there’s a minimum need to be charged, the officers, and as well as Breonna Taylor and I might add, by the way, I think what happened in Portland where one of the Trump guys riding along in vans and inciting responses were shooting rubber bullets, I guess, or paintballs. Apparently, there was someone shot by someone in the crowd with a bullet, killed. I think that person should meet legal requirements, whatever that calls for. He should be investigated and it should follow through on what needs to be done. Let the judicial system work. Let’s make sure justice is done."
- On his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin on Thursday, September 3, 2020.
"We have to heal. This is about making sure that we move and we move forward. And so I’ve gotten advice from sitting members of the Congress and the Senate as well to go and that I should go. I’m not going to do anything other than meet with and meetings with community leaders, as well as business people and other folks in law enforcement. And to see, to start to talk about what has to be done. I’m not going to tell Kenosha what they have to do but we have to do together. The idea that we are saying the president’s current people retreat to their corners and keep this movie is just a mistake. I spent my whole life, including in this city you’re in right now, bringing people together. Bringing the community and police officers together. Bringing business leaders and civic leaders together. And so that’s my purpose in going."
- On the upcoming Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates.
"Well, I began to prepare by going over what the president has said, multiple lies he’s told. What I’d love to have as a crawler at the bottom of the screen of fact-checker when we speak. If we really want him to do something, I think that would make a great, great debate. If everything both of us said was instantly fact-checked by an agreed-to group of people out there then we move forward. But probably wouldn’t get very far in the debate. Now I’m looking forward to debating the President and I’m going to layout as clearly as I can, what I think we have to do to bring this country back and build it back better. And I’m looking forward to the debate."
- On people worried about the possible escalation of violence and what he would do as President.
"First of all, I wouldn’t incite violence. I condemn it when it occurred. I would move to, look, the vast majority of police officers are good, decent, honorable women and men. They pin on that shield every morning and they have a right to go home that night safely. The vast majority. But just those who are not good cops, all the police I’ve dealt with my whole life, and I’ve been dealing with, I’ve gotten overwhelming support from law enforcement through my whole career. They’re the ones that want to get rid of the bad cops, even more than anybody else does because it reflects on them. Number one. Number two, I would make sure everybody understood, if I were president, that any violence, any violence, protesting is a right and free speech is a right, but to engage in violence, burning, looting, the rest, in the name of protesting is wrong, and that persons should be held accountable for their actions."
"What I’d be doing is I’d be bringing people together in the White House, right now. I’d be having that Police Commission set up. I’d have law enforcement at the table. I’d have the community at the table. I’d have people and saying, “How do we get through this? What do we do to deal with this?” Because I believe the vast majority of the community at writ large, as well as law enforcement, want to straighten things out, not inflamed things, but this president keeps throwing gasoline on the fire, every place he goes."
- On school reopenings and what families are supposed to do.
"Help is on the way. I’ve laid out a clear plan for childcare, a clear plan for starting early education as well, so three and four and five-year-olds are in school. But I’m not President right now. What we should be doing, is we should be providing for more help for people who in fact, are trying to juggle the choice between, do I stay home with my three, four or five-year-old and take care of them in the middle of this COVID problem? Or, do I go to work and earn a salary? What do I do? That’s why we have, I have a major initiative to deal with childcare and eldercare, so people can be adequately paid to come and take care of folks, children, as well as the elderly that you may be taking care of a parent, a husband and wife may be taking care of, as well as making sure that those folks are able to get back to work."
The former Vice President then pivoted from specifically school reopenings to how Trump and his allies are mishandling the economic and social impact of COVID 19 by not passing needed rescue legislation, comparing it to the Obama/Biden's handling of the Great Recession in 2009. Among his comments were:
"One of the things we did, remember when we inherited the great recession and we were going into the tank, heading off the cliff or heading into a depression, I was able to convince three Republicans had changed their vote. We ended up with the so-called Recovery Act, which spent over $800 billion in 18 months, kept us from going into depression. But what did we do? We spent almost, we spent billions of dollars, making sure that states were able to maintain their essential workers. Everyone from their fire departments, their school teachers, their doctors, their nurses, their public hospitals."
"Now, what’s happening? This Republican administration will not support that and the Republican leadership in the United States Senate will not support it. So, what’s happening? We don’t have that help. It’s not out there. States are in real trouble and to quote my good friend, Mitch McConnell, he says, “Let the states go, bankrupt.”States have to balance their budgets, under the law. Communities, counties, cities, they have to balance their budget. There’s a reason why the federal government is able to run a deficit, to compensate in times of real economic crisis and what’s happening, nothing, nothing. Guess what? We came out of that recession with the longest spurt of economic growth in any administration in American history..."
"But this administration seems to think it’s all of a sudden going to go away, like angel dust is going to be sprayed around. Everything’s going to be okay. I just don’t get it. They have to know better. They have to know better. We had an example, just the last administration, how much good you can do, and how much growth you can generate. I just don’t get these guys. I really, don’t. Not a joke. I’ve been doing this a long time, but I’ve never seen a president lack as much leadership, unwilling, an inability to make a deal. done in the Republican Congress, is 20 members of the United States Senate saying under no circumstances, will they raise the deficit at all. Well, that’s wonderful. We’re in a position we’re in now. Look at other countries. They’re doing one hell of a lot better. Yet, we still have over, what’s it up to, 186,000 people dead. Over 6 million, was it, 6,300,000, whatever the number is, that have contracted the disease and no end in sight. It’s just irresponsible. Talk about a know-nothing Congress. On the Republican side. A know-nothing President. Not even the President. I mean, I don’t get it. I really don’t get it, but it’s going to change, come January, God willing."
What the people saw in Wilmington Delaware today was someone, if the November elections turn out well, who would be a Know Something President who would lead a Know Something Congress in attacking the COVID 19 Pandemic and hopefully relieving the economic and social stress on the citizens in this nation.
They saw a person that would do everything possible to keep the country safe.
He would not be like the anti-immigrant anti fact Know-Nothing in the White House (like his nineteenth-century counterparts) now.
No comments:
Post a Comment