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‘The man in this house doesn't give a damn if you lose yours': Trump blasted over evictions by Lincoln Project ad

With millions out of work and unable to pay rent, crisis is looming for renters and homeowners 

Oliver O'Connell
New York
Tuesday 11 August 2020 19:03 BST
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Lincoln Project: Moving Day

The latest ad from The Lincoln Project, the political action committee formed by Republicans opposed to Donald Trump, blasts the president for the coming wave of evictions expected to sweep across the country.

Millions of Americans are out of work and unable to afford their rent in the wake of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Eviction protections provided by the CARES Act, which passed in March, expired on 24 July.

The ad, called Moving Day, lays the blame for the situation squarely on the president’s negligent handling of the response to the spread of Covid-19 and how the economy was subsequently “wrecked”.

“Very soon now it’s moving day for 25 million Americans,” the ad states, saying that they are moving “not by choice — but because the Trump evictions are starting soon… the Trump foreclosures.”

A video clip in the ad has the president describing the reports of “trials and tribulations” of Americans as “fake news”.

Referencing the recent failure of coronavirus relief package negotiations between the administration and Congress, the narrator says the president now “heartlessly rejects even $600 a week to unemployed Americans”.

With a shot of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the ad says: “The man in this house doesn’t give a damn if you lose yours.”

An executive order that the president signed on Saturday does little to provide security to those worried about losing their homes. The order only tells federal agencies to “consider” measures to prevent evictions and "review" existing authorities and resources.

The order says that the secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, and the director of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, shall consider if measures halting evictions of tenants for failure to pay rent are necessary to prevent the further spread of Covid-19 from one state to another.

Further, there are no details if financial support will be provided to renters, apparently leaving that decision to the secretary of the treasury, Steve Mnuchin, and secretary of housing and urban development, Ben Carson, who will "identify any and all available funds" to help renters and homeowners.

John Pollock, coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel told CNBC: “It creates the impression that something was done, when in fact nothing was done.”

In a briefing on Monday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president saying that he did what he can within his executive capacity with regards to evictions.

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