The unemployment numbers that came out Thursday morning were devastating. There's no getting around it. Over 10 million have now lost their jobs in the last two weeks. The coronavirus has upended the American way of life and reversed the nation's strong economic streak.
Worse than expected Unemployment benefits: ?? to 6.648-million jobless benefits vs estimate of 3.5-mm @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) April 2, 2020
Former vice president Joe Biden used that jump to suggest that President Trump is failing to lead during the crisis.
"President Trump is not responsible for the coronavirus, but he bears full responsibility for the slow and uncoordinated response," Biden charged on Twitter. "The harsh reality is that at least 3 million people now don’t have jobs because he didn’t do his job when it mattered."
The Trump campaign's Tim Murtaugh responded in kind, hitting at the former VP for his hypocrisy and his string of embarrassing media hits.
“President Trump is leading the nation through the coronavirus crisis, but Joe Biden has decided to fill the role of the opposition, ineffectively sniping from the sidelines, stumbling through television interviews, and hoping for relevance and political gain. Americans are facing a public health emergency and are worried about their jobs and the economy, but Joe Biden’s record and proposals prove that he is ill-suited for a role in this fight. While he was vice president, he oversaw the most sluggish economic recovery this country has seen since World War II. He supported disastrous, job-killing trade deals like NAFTA and TPP and his proposal to enact the economy-strangling Green New Deal as a response to this crisis is about the worst remedy imaginable. On top of that, Biden has pledged to eliminate the Trump tax cuts, which cut taxes for the vast majority of American taxpayers. Meanwhile, President Trump has been hard at work, negotiating the relief package for unemployed workers and affected businesses and leading in this time of crisis. The President’s policies drove the American economy to the greatest heights in half a century, and he is the best person to lead us through this difficult period.”
After taking the advice of his coronavirus task force, Trump announced on Sunday that he would be keeping much of country shut down until April 30. With that in mind, he also recently signed into law a congressional package that would send qualified individuals $1,200 relief checks to help see them through the crisis.
Biden has reportedly offered to call the president and discuss another strategy to help Americans during the outbreak. Trump said he'd "love" to take that call.
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