Ahead of Trump Visit, Wisconsin Leaders and Small Business Owners Slam Trump for Failed COVID-19 Economy

(WISCONSIN) — Ahead of Trump’s rally in Mosinee (Marathon County), Wisconsin, WI-7 congressional candidate Tricia Zunker, Dairy Farmer and Lincoln County Board Supervisor Hans Breitenmoser Jr., small business owner Sarah Bruch, and occupational therapist Tammy Moothedan shined a light on how Donald Trump‘s failed COVID-19 response has hurt small businesses across the state and wrecked Wisconsin’s economy. Small businesses make up 99% of Wisconsin’s economy. Instead of offering a plan to help Wisconsin workers, Trump is hosting a super spreader event in Marathon County today, which set a county record of 925 total COVID cases yesterday.

Watch the full event here or read excerpts of what the speakers said below.

Candidate Tricia Zunker: “In the midst of a pandemic, in Marathon county, which saw a record number of COVID-19 cases yesterday, Trump is holding a super-spreader event. This is the perfect example of why we can’t get our economy back on track and why we continue to see the number of coronavirus cases rise. So many small business owners, including one you’ll hear from today, can’t get their businesses fully operational, get their employees back to work, and properly provide for their families… We are more alike than we are different in Wisconsin and in Marathon County. And these problems are hurting everybody- Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike; we all want nothing more than to get back to normal. On top of all of this, with Trump holding what very well could be a super-spreader event, we are reminded that it didn’t have to be this bad. It didn’t have to be bad at all. This pandemic was avoidable. Over 200,000 lives have been lost; that’s over 200,000 grieving families… We deserve more than congressional and local electeds who give Trump cover and sell lies to the people they’re sworn to represent. That’s not leadership.”

Hans Breitenmoser Jr: “There’s no doubt that our trade policies the last four years have not been kind to farmers… If the best our administration can do in the face of the Dairy state losing 800 dairy farms a year is to send the Ag Secretary to town and say get big or get out, then clearly there’s a need for a change in leadership, and a need to get leadership in Washington that really takes a thoughtful, sincere, and understanding approach to food systems in our country… As a local elected official, I see the impact of losing small businesses and losing farms in rural economies, it raises all sorts of hell for the budgets of small counties… It’s not going to magically change until we have policy that doesn’t just give lip service to small businesses but in fact creates policy that supports them.”

Sarah Bruch: “Like so many small businesses across the state of Wisconsin, and throughout our country, we have paid a heavy financial price for COVID-19. After the shut down, we have reopened, but not nearly to the capacity we typically run… By being a responsible business owner and not having leadership from Donald Trump, we’ve paid the consequences for those things. We’ve had a downturn in our revenue, an increase in our expenditures, and we just aren’t able to financially support the community nonprofits that we would like to and the schools we like to cheer behind as well. I remember when this started in January, and we did see leaders throughout our world really taking a proactive stance. Donald Trump in our country pushed the problem down the road… and every step along the way, he hasn’t been honest with us. And the thing that’s really upsetting is now we know he knew the truth and he chose not to put public health first. Now is the time we need leaders like Tricia and Joe Biden that really care about our country, and that care about public health. We need their leadership so that we can turn the corner and get back to providing an American dream for everybody.”

Tammy Moothedan: “Everybody I see is at a high risk for catching COVID, and I do treat COVID patients as well. For me, my job and my ability to provide patient care has been extremely affected by COVID, and really, it didn’t have to be as affected, but because of the lack of leadership we’ve seen from President Trump and the Republican administration, it’s really made my ability to provide care to my patients much more difficult… I’ve had patients who’ve had to delay their cancer treatments because clinics and hospitals were closed because of the lack of PPE. I had patients who weren’t able to get necessary surgeries because of the lack of PPE. It has been over and over seeing the effects that the lack of leadership has caused in our health care industry, really affecting health care workers and our patients. We know it didn’t have to be this way… There are such simple things that could have been done, and yet Trump continues to give mixed messages on everything related to this pandemic, and my patients are scared… And we know there are more people that are going to die, and we didn’t have to have this high death rate… if we had seen the correct leadership from Washington.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.