Today, Congresswoman Donna Shalala (FL-27), DNC Chair Tom Perez, and Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans President Saundra Cole discussed the devastating impact of Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus on America’s seniors. The press call followed the release of the DNC War Room’s latest television ad, “Wolves,” which reveals how Trump threw America to the wolves when the coronavirus hit.

Trump deceived seniors on the risk of coronavirus, jeopardizing their health. He ignored experts, repeatedly claimed that the virus would “disappear,” and rushed to reopen the country without the necessary safety measures — all for his own political gain. Now, as coronavirus cases surge in states across the country, older Americans have accounted for 80% of deaths and a disproportionate number of hospitalizations.

“Donald Trump’s leadership is not only reckless, it’s insensitive and it’s immoral, and it’s killing seniors in our country. … We have a responsibility to the people who built this nation, and Donald Trump has ignored them. He’s attacking Dr. Fauci and the CDC. He’s refusing to follow their advice. He’s covering up for his failures. And four months into this crisis, he’s still getting it wrong. Cases are spiking at record rates in my district, but he wants to slow testing down,” said Congresswoman Donna Shalala. “While the crisis has been devastating for our country and for my state, it’s been especially devastating for America’s seniors, and they know clearly who’s responsible: Donald Trump.”

“Trump has failed to protect seniors and nursing home residents from the pandemic — instead, he’s thrown them to the wolves. Trump repeatedly lied that the virus would ‘disappear,’ and backed protests of stay-at-home orders that protect seniors from the coronavirus — all for his own political gain, said DNC Chair Tom Perez. “Despite nursing homes accounting for 40% of all coronavirus deaths, the Trump administration has not provided nursing homes with universal testing, has left nursing homes without critical supplies of PPE, and has rolled back rules designed to protect nursing home residents. Seniors have suffered immensely at the hands of this president.”

“The president is talking now about mandatory opening of schools, and if the schools don’t open, that they’re not going to get funding. Well, schools here start opening in August, the first part of August — that’s only a couple of weeks away. And we’re worried about our kids and our teachers and that, but what happens after the kids come home? I have members that are grandparents that take care of their kids, the grandkids, after school. So now they’re worried about, should I watch my grandkids or should I not watch my grandkids? Because they’re worried about the coronavirus spreading to them, and I can’t tell you how stressful it is,” Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans President Saundra Cole. “It’s like everything’s falling in and we always hear that seniors, we are the biggest target here for the coronavirus, so we are very stressed. … It’s very scary and we don’t see any end to this. And our leadership — when things are bad, we usually look to our leadership and our leadership has not followed through with us and I feel that they have failed seniors.”