President-elect Joe Biden criticized President Trump on Monday for what he described as a painfully slow launch of the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Biden spoke in Atlanta while campaigning with the two Democratic opponents on the eve of the second round of Georgia’s Senate election, which will decide whether Republicans will retain a majority in the Senate. The former vice president said “it is a shame what is happening now” with the vaccine, claiming that “this government has had a terrible start”.
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But Biden made no direct mention of a controversial taped telephone conversation between Georgia’s President and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger – which went viral on Sunday and dominated the media headlines.
At one point in the leaked conversation, which was first reported by the Washington Post, Trump told the Republican Secretary of State: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. , because we won the state. “
That’s one vote more than the 11,779 votes that Biden beat Trump in Georgia, according to state certified election results. Ballots in Georgia were counted three times – the original election day count, a mandatory manual recount and a recount requested by the president’s campaign. Trump refused to give in to Biden and claimed for two months that there was major electoral fraud in Georgia and five other states where he was defeated by the former vice president.
Biden criticized Trump for “complaining and complaining”, rather than acting as president. “I don’t know why he still wants the job,” said Biden of Trump. “He doesn’t want to do the job.”
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Biden joined Senate Democratic opponents Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock at a drive-in rally a few blocks south of downtown Atlanta. The president-elect event was held just hours before Trump was set to campaign for Sens Republicans. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Dalton, in the northwest corner of Georgia, strongly republican.
The rallies on the eve of the election of the president who leaves the Republican Party and his Democratic successor were the second in Georgia since the run-off campaign began after the November general election.
The balance of power for the next Senate coming out of the November elections is 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. That means Democrats must win Georgia’s two runoff elections to make it a 50-50 Senate. If that happens, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will have the casting vote, giving her party a minimal majority in the chamber. Democrats have a small majority in the House.
But if Democrats don’t win both elections, the Republican Party will retain the chamber, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Will retain its position – and the ability to block many of the proposals that Biden hopes to pass through. Congress.
Tuesday’s vote in Georgia came about because state law dictates a runoff if no candidate reaches 50% of the vote, Perdue narrowly failed to avoid a runoff in November, winning 49.75% of the vote. Ossoff lost by about 87,000 votes.
In the other race, Loeffler won almost 26% of the vote in a colossal special election of 20 candidates to fill the final two years of the term of former Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who resigned due to ill health. Loeffler was appointed to his position last December. His opponent Warnock won almost 33% of the vote.
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For Biden, who in November became the first Democratic presidential candidate to conquer Georgia in more than a quarter of a century, Monday’s rally was all about location. Participation in the early vote soared in Atlanta’s Democratic strongholds – and in the suburbs of the capital – and Democrats did not want to slow down on the eve of the election.
“Georgia, the whole nation expects you to lead us forward,” emphasized Biden. “Power is literally in your hands. Unlike any time in my career, a state, a state can chart the course not just for the next four years, but for the next generation.”
Biden added, “By electing Jon and the Reverend, you will be voting for states to have the resources they need to distribute vaccines.”
Only about four million Americans received the first of two doses of the COVID vaccine, with just over 13 million doses administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Logistical problems are affecting the Trump administration’s distribution efforts, especially states struggling to administer doses that have already been sent by the federal government.
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Last week, Trump targeted the states for slow implementation, tweeting, “The Federal Government has distributed the vaccines to the states. Now it’s up to the states to manage. Move!”
Biden, in his comments on Monday, also highlighted the failure of Congress and the current government to increase coronavirus relief checks for Americans from $ 600 to $ 2,000.
And he predicted, “If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $ 2,000 checks will go away, restoring the hope, decency and honor of so many people who are fighting now. What if you send Senators Perdue and Loeffler from back to Washington, those checks will never get there. It’s that simple. “
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Biden noted that “by electing Jon and the Reverend, you can break the impasse that has engulfed Washington and the nation.”
The former vice president also criticized Loeffler and Perdue, strong supporters of the president who supported Trump as he tried to reverse Georgia’s certified election results.
“You have two senators now who think they don’t work for you, they work for Trump,” said Biden. “You have two senators who think they are loyal to Trump, not Georgia.”