Biden: Trump’s comments about George Floyd are ‘despicable’
Joe Biden, former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said it was “despicable” that President Trump would suggest that George Floyd is “looking down” and thinking that lower unemployment numbers would be “a great thing” for the country.
Video Transcript
JOE BIDEN: Before I speak to the economic situation, I have to take a moment to address something that the president said this morning. Toward the end of his remarks, President Trump said he hopes that quote, "George Floyd is looking down and seeing this is a great day for our country."
We're speaking of a man who was brutally killed by an act of needless violence and by a larger tide of injustice that has metastasized on this president's watch as he's moved to split us based on race and religion, ethnicity. George Floyd's last words, I can't breathe, I can't breathe have echoed all across this nation and, quite frankly, around the world.
For the president to try to put any other words in the mouths of George Floyd, I, frankly, think is despicable. And the fact that he did so on the day when black unemployment rose, Hispanic unemployment rose, black youth unemployment skyrocketed, tells you everything you need to know about this man and what he really cares about.
Today, like all Americans, I'm truly glad to see that two and 1/2 million Americans have gotten their jobs back. For those families, that's a sigh of relief. For all those of us, it reminds us that resilience of the American people. To those Americans, I'm so proud of you, so happy for you and for your families.
I was disturbed, however, to see the president crowing this morning basically hanging a mission accomplished banner out there when there's so much more work to be done. So many Americans are still hurting. More than 20 million Americans, one out of every seven US workers is still out of work.
For an enormous swath of our country, their dreams are still on hold. And they're still struggling to put food on the table and wondering what's going to happen tomorrow. Can I pay my rent? Will I be able to maintain my mortgage payment? The unemployment rate remains the highest it's been in nearly a century.
As I said, black employment went up this month. Latino employment jumped to over 37%. Hispanic unemployment overall is four times higher than it was before the president botched his response to the pandemic. And I'm worried. When you look deeper to the data, while temporary layoffs went down, permanent layoffs went up. Donald Trump still doesn't get it. He's out there spiking the ball completely oblivious to the tens of millions of people who are facing the greatest struggle of their lives.
