Biden, Harris up to challenge of fixing Trump’s many messes
Last week, as Congress met to certify Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, pro-Trump insurrectionists provoked by our commanderin-chief stormed the Capitol, menacing police officers and threatening lawmakers. It was a day that will live in infamy. So far, five people have died as a result.
While Trump will be remembered by history as the only president to be impeached twice, the impact of his failed leadership will be felt by Americans for years to come. As we prepare to inaugurate a new president and vice president, it’s worth reflecting on the hole Trump is leaving our country in. In nearly every respect, Trump — and Republicans like Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who did his bidding — have trashed our country, leaving it to the new administration and the new Congress to clean up the mess.
Trump leaves behind a country deeply divided. Partisanship and polarization have reached extreme levels. This deadly insurrection did not occur in a vacuum — for four years, President Trump stoked division, spread conspiracy theories and incited violence.
He also leaves behind an economy in shambles, with too many families and small businesses forced to fend for themselves. Job losses under Trump are the worst of any American president on record. In Florida, the tourism industry, which provides millions of jobs and accounts for 13% to 15% of the state’s primary revenue fund, has been decimated by the pandemic.
Contrary to Trump’s fabricated claims that we’re seeing a “V-shaped recovery,” layoffs continue, with workers losing both their jobs and their employer-sponsored health insurance. Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican Legislature have refused to fix the broken unemployment system, preventing many hard-working Floridians from receiving the benefits they need to make ends meet. In September, our Legislature’s chief economist predicted it will take three years for Florida’s tourism industry to rebound. All the while, Trump and Congressional Republicans delayed relief to working families.
The Trump administration also failed to contain the coronavirus, which continues to devastate families across Florida. For months, the president downplayed the severity of the pandemic, saying “it’s going to disappear” and “the risk is actually very low” instead of listening to public health experts and taking decisive steps to get the virus under control.
Now, ten months after COVID-19 first emerged in our state, one in 14 Floridians has been infected and the death toll has surpassed 23,000. Shockingly, more than 2 million Americans were infected and more than 28,000 died in the first 10 days of January alone, while the president focused his attention on trying to overturn a free and fair election that he lost. It didn’t have to be this way.
Trump and his fellow Republicans’ failed response to COVID-19 has extended to their vaccination efforts. Senior citizens are waiting overnight in their cars, while Gov. DeSantis is blaming hospitals and doctors for his own lack of planning. That’s why I sent a bipartisan letter to the governor, requesting a briefing on his vaccine rollout, since what we have seen so far is unacceptable. This absence of leadership, the lack of coordination and inconsistent messaging — whether from Trump or DeSantis — have only intensified the crisis awaiting our country’s next leaders.
After Inauguration Day, Republicans will likely ask the public to conveniently forget the Trump era, the role they played in aiding and abetting him and the disaster that President-elect Biden inherited as a result. But here’s the truth: Unlike the America that President Obama and Vice President Biden left Trump, President-elect Biden will receive a country in turmoil — with millions of our fellow Americans sick, or out of work or struggling to get by.
Thankfully, I am confident that the new administration, and its partners in Congress, will rise to meet these challenges. As we watch Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take their oaths of office, Floridians can rest assured that our country will be led by public servants of competence and integrity, dedicated to rebuilding our economy, effectively combating the coronavirus and respecting core democratic principles and the rule of law.
I will do everything in my power to help them — and the nation we love — succeed.