The head of the Democratic National Committee said Thursday President Donald Trump has thrown senior citizens “to the wolves” through his botched response to the coronavirus.
DNC Chair Tom Perez said Mr. Trump’s “abject incompetence” has left senior citizens vulnerable, and said that seniors have accounted for roughly 100,000 of the 135,000 deaths from the virus.
“The only thing more staggering than these numbers is the incompetence that caused them,” Mr. Perez said. “Trump has failed to protect seniors and nursing home residents from the pandemic. Instead, he has thrown them to the wolves.”
Mr. Perez said presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden would do more to support and protect seniors.
He said that Mr. Biden is better prepared to steer the nation through the crisis and that he understands the fear and anxiety that voters are facing.
Mr. Perez said Mr. Trump is blind to the pain seniors are facing.
“The only person he seems to care about is the person staring back at him in the mirror each morning,” Mr. Perez said. “By any measure, America is worse off because of Donald Trump.”
Mr. Perez said Mr. Trump won the 65-plus crowd in the 2016 election but said polling shows a majority of those voters are now backing Mr. Biden.
Mr. Perez attributed the shift to seniors recognizing that they have been “betrayed” by Mr. Trump and GOP governors in Florida and Arizona who guided some of the most aggressive plans to reopen after the depths of the pandemic.
“They know this crisis didn’t have to be this bad,” Mr. Perez said. “They know who is at fault for the very serious challenges they are confronting and that is why seniors are going to hold Donald Trump accountable in November — in Florida, Arizona, and around the country.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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