Brown rips Trump for ‘political rally’ in Rose Garden
Sen. Sherrod Brown slammed President Donald Trump for using the White House Rose Garden as a venue for a “political rally” this week and defended former Vice President Joe Biden’s climate plan.
The Democrat told reporters Wednesday during his weekly conference call that he did not watch Trump’s Rose Garden speech on Tuesday, but he criticized the president for using the White House for political gain.
“He did something no president has ever done: that is use the rose garden for strictly political speech,” Brown said in response to a question about the event.
Brown, a fierce critic of Trump, said the president had “turned a health crisis into an economic crisis” and accused him of trying to divide the country to distract from the administration’s failure to contain the coronavirus.
Trump spent more than an hour talking to reporters in the Rose Garden on Tuesday about the differences between him and Biden, the Democratic candidate seeking to stop Trump’s reelection campaign. He painted Biden as “radical left,” according to the Associated Press.
Trump said Biden’s climate plan would make the U.S. “noncompetitive” around the globe.
But Brown defended Biden’s $2 trillion climate plan, unveiled this week, as a potential job driver for Ohio. He dismissed the possibility that it could hurt oil and gas jobs in eastern Ohio.
“I think (Biden) understands the basic industries in Ohio. He understands the importance of steel. He understands that the way we address climate is through job growth, not job loss,” he said. “We will get a real growth in jobs if we really do devote ourselves to clean energy. There’s no doubt about the job creation aspect of that.”
Brown also said Ohio “clearly was opened too quickly” as the coronavirus has spread since Gov. Mike Dewine lifted orders limiting where people could go in early May.
Brown has been a big supporter of Dewine’s response to the coronavirus since March, though. On Wedesday, he said he hoped the governor would use his 5:30 p.m. news conference to implore his fellow Republican in the White House to encourage people to wear masks.
“I’m concerned about the increase. Ohio was one of the best in the country for weeks and weeks,” the Democrat said. rrouan@dispatch.com @Rickrouan