The Democratic National Committee on Monday intensified its criticism of President Trump’s push to reopen schools, saying the administration is gambling with lives in a naked attempt to score political points ahead of the fall election.
In a new television attack ad, the DNC highlighted how Mr. Trump initially downplayed the virus and questioned whether the president can be trusted to protect students and teachers from COVID-19.
“Desperate to reopen schools because he thinks it will save his reelection,” the narrator says in the spot. “Do you trust him to do what is best for our children because this is not a test? Trump is failing.”
The battle over whether schools should open during a pandemic has become a major point of contention in the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Trump has called on schools to reopen and threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that refuse to open their doors. He says that Democrats do not support the effort because they think it will hurt his reelection.
Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden has erred more on the side of caution.
Mr. Biden says the president’s slow response to the virus has made it harder for schools to reopen. He has called for federal agencies to establish basic criteria for reopening schools and said that state and local officials should have the final say.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said that “reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being, and future of one of America’s greatest assets — our children — while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families.”
On Monday, DNC Chair Tom Perez said in a conference call with reporters the Trump administration has offered school districts little guidance or assistance to help schools open safely and said The White House’s race to reopen schools will “imperil children, school staff and their families.”
“Yet Donald Trump and his damn the torpedoes approach to governance is charging forward with his demand that schools reopen as the virus surges because his it will help his reelection and that is all he cares about,” Mr. Perez said.
