On Friday’s “MSNBC Live,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that if we had improved testing, “we could open up a lot more quickly” and that he is “so proud of these young kids in the streets.” Schumer also expressed concern that protesters were putting themselves and others at risk from coronavirus, and said that “The answer here is testing.”
Schumer said that travel, entertainment, and retail industries are hurting the hardest, “and if we don’t get massive testing, which is the real answer here. If people had instantaneous tests and knew, when they entered a place, that everyone was tested and the people who were inside didn’t have COVID, we could open up a lot more quickly. That’s in our bill, too.”
Later, Schumer stated that he is “so proud of these young kids in the streets. … Trump would like people to think all the demonstrators are violent rioters. That’s a tiny number, and they of course should be punished. No one wants the violence. But the vast majority are people looking for change, to deal with the gaping sore that’s been on the American body politic since our founding, and that is racial injustice, racism. And I am very hopeful that people across the country are seeing that and we can get some real, strong action.”
Host Stephanie Ruhle then asked Schumer, “But how concerned are you about their health? It was just a week ago, we were looking at all the people who disregarded social distancing rules Memorial Day weekend, and we worried that they were going to put themselves and so many others at a health risk. Do you not have that concern now?”
Schumer responded, “Yeah, well, sure. The answer here is testing. The Trump administration has been an abject failure in getting adequate tests. If we had adequate tests, people who knew they had COVID would stay in. Everyone else could go about their business protesting if they so wished, going to stores, going to work.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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