Kamala Harris, who was chosen on Tuesday by Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate, blamed President Donald Trump for "millions of Americans" being unemployed, during her first appearance with the Delaware Democrat.
"This virus has impacted almost every country, but there's a reason it has hit America worse than any other advanced nation," the California senator said during her Wednesday speech in Wilmington, Delaware. "It’s because of Trump’s failure to take it seriously from the start."
Harris continued, "Trump is also the reason millions of Americans are now unemployed. He inherited the longest economic expansion in American history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And then, like everything else he inherited, he drove it into the ground."
The coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus brought on the largest fall in GDP since the Great Depression. Those conditions also pushed up the unemployment rate from 4% at the beginning of the year to more than 10% today.
Harris called Biden the candidate with "empathy" and "compassion" who is ready to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
"Today, he takes his place in the ongoing story of America's march toward equality and justice as the only one who has served alongside the first Black president and has chosen the first Black woman as his running mate," Harris said.
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