Perdue Doubles Down On Praise For Trump’s Handling of Virus

Perdue in March: “The risk of this virus … still remains low”

Trump in March: “The risk to the American people remains very low”

ATLANTA — Senator David Perdue says that Trump “has not gotten enough credit for his actions to stem the pandemic” even as the U.S. has the worst COVID-19 death rate of developed nations and thousands of Georgians have lost their lives, jobs, and health care due to President Trump’s botched handling of the virus.

Earlier this week, Jon Ossoff asked Perdue during the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting debate if he believes President Trump has done everything in his power to protect Georgians during this pandemic, Perdue replied, “I absolutely do, Jon.” 

Perdue has been exposed for repeatedly echoing Trump’s downplaying of the threat of coronavirus, saying the risk of the virus remained low, telling Georgians the economic impact would be little, and even comparing COVID-19 to a bad flu season, even as hospitalizations from the virus surged in Georgia resulting in now over 7,000 deaths. 

In March, Perdue bragged about Georgia having “16 confirmed cases, and no deaths yet” claiming “very, very few people have been exposed to it” and that the virus was “not […] a crisis yet at all.” Weeks later as the number of cases grew, Perdue said “the numbers projected were supposed to be much worse.” 

In July, Perdue claimed “things in Georgia are going as well as they could be expected” and then wrongfully claimed just weeks later that “we’ve done everything we could” to fight the virus – right before Georgia came to be the state where someone was “most likely” to be exposed to coronavirus.

“Senator Perdue’s claim that Trump hasn’t gotten enough credit as hundreds of thousands die and millions are out of work is insulting and disrespectful to Georgians who are suffering under Trump’s botched pandemic response,” said Braxton Brewington, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Georgians know that Trump and Perdue’s failed leadership and repeated downplaying of the virus is exactly why we’ve failed to get this crisis under control.”

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