Wisconsin Women Slam Trump For Attacks On Their Health, COVID-19 Response, In-Person Campaigning

(WISCONSIN) — Today, as the Women for Trump bus tour and the Republican Party of Wisconsin hold in-person events, Wisconsinites across the state blasted Trump for the danger he’s posed to women, his attacks on the health care system, and his failure to properly address the COVID-19 pandemic:

Rep. Robyn Vining: “Wisconsin women deserve leaders with a zero tolerance for sexual violence, and who value our health care. Donald Trump has been bad for Wisconsin women throughout his presidency. From his attacks on our health care system that allow companies to deny specific coverage for women, endanger pregnancy coverage, his refusal to support the Violence Against Women’s Act, and his disastrous COVID-19 response that has disproportionately burdened women, Trump has failed us at every turn. Trump is on a dangerous course and women are not safe in his path. I wouldn’t put a single loved one on that bus. Wisconsin women deserve better.”

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Vice-Chair Felesia Martin: Donald Trump’s disastrous COVID-19 response has disproportionately devastated the Black community. In addition to higher infection rates, minority and women owned small-businesses, which are so vital to our communities, did not get access to adequate PPP loans while the Trump administration resisted oversight of the program. What’s more is that at a time of national reckoning over structural racism, Trump is using his position to further sow division and hatred. This bus tour and the Republican State Convention are desperate attempts  to prop up Trump’s ineffective presidency and struggling campaign, and along the way will do further damage in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as they reject science and insist on meeting in person, no matter the risk to the Wisconsinites they could put in danger.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin 2nd Vice-Chair and 57th Assembly Candidate Lee Snodgrass: “The Trump campaign continues their grossly irresponsible tour of in-person, unmasked events across our state as the COVID -19 pandemic rages on due to the president’s failed leadership. What’s worse, they are bringing their horror show to my backyard in NE Wisconsin at a time when our state is setting records for highest single day increases of the virus in the country. Additionally, the Wisconsin Republican Party is complicit in holding their state convention in-person, not just risking the lives of the attendees, but those who are forced to work the event to make ends meet as our economy is  impacted by COVID19. Trump and his party are repeatedly putting people’s health and safety in jeopardy because they simply don’t care about the deadly realities of this pandemic. The voters I am talking to say they will remember how they were treated as expandable and will hold Trump and his party accountable in November.”

First Time Voter with Pre-Existing Condition Kyleigh Forster: “Trump has broken promise after promise to people like me — Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions, that he’d protect us and the protections we rely on to get affordable health care. Even in the midst of a pandemic he is trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act and put vulnerable people like myself in greater danger at getting sick and not being able to get the treatment we need. This November will be the first election I am old enough to vote in, and you can bet I’ll be casting my ballot against Donald Trump because of the threat he poses to my life and so many others across this country. He has proven to be a danger to all of us, from his attacks on our health care to his COVID-19 response, and we need the real leadership Joe Biden is offering as our next president.”

Additional background: 

May 2020: The unemployment rate for women was 14.3% compared with a rate of 11.9 among men. [Pew Research Center, 6/11/20]

Of the last 8 economic downturns over the past five decades, the COVID-19 downturn was online in which women lost more jobs than men. [Pew Research, 6/9/20]

According to economic professor Stafnie Albanesi, women accounted for 77% of workers in occupations that required personal contact and could not be done remotely. [Wall Street Journal, 5/15/20]

Minority, women-owned and rural small businesses may not have received loans under the Paycheck Protection Program because the Small Business Administration did not instruct lenders to prioritize underserved communities as called for under the law, according to an inspector general report. [CNBC, 5/9/20]

There are 27 members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Only two are women: Dr. Deborah Birx and Seema Verma, Administrator of the Centers of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. [NPR, 6/24/20]

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.