Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden blasted President Donald Trump on Wednesday after thousands of attendees at one of his rallies were left stranded in freezing weather, saying that he “leaves everyone else to suffer the consequence of his failure to make a responsible plan,” Politico reported.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , on Tuesday, Trump held a rally at Omaha’s Eppely Airfield, appearing before about 21,000 or more supporters, who had been bussed to the site from parking lots nearby. After the event, however, many of the attendees waited for hours in freezing temperatures, waiting for busses to take them back to their cars. Some gave up and walked the three miles back to where they’d parked.
Among the stranded were people who were elderly who used electric mobility devices.
Omaha police later confirmed that paramedics took six people to local hospitals “due to a variety of medical conditions.”
The Trump campaign later blamed the mishap on road closures and traffic congestion, saying that the campaign had allotted 40 shuttle buses, but that they weren’t enough to handle the load.
“President Trump loves his supporters and was thrilled to visit Omaha last night. Despite the cold, tens of thousands of people showed up for his rally… At the guest departure location, we had tents, heaters, generators, hot cocoa, and handwarmers available for guests,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Samantha Zager, via The Omaha World-Herald .
In a statement, Biden treated the event as a sort of metaphor for Trump’s approach to American lives in general in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“[Rally attendees], including older Americans and children, were stranded in sub-zero freezing temperatures for hours… it … captures President Trump’s whole approach in this crisis,” he said.
Further, he said that Trump’s departure from the rally, after which his supporters were left to suffer, is emblematic of his entire presidency.
“He gets his photo op and then gets out. He leaves everyone else to suffer the consequence of his failure to make a responsible plan,” he said.
This is not the first time that a Trump rally has resulted in some of the attendees suffering health consequences afterwards. In June, the president held a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, despite concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. After the event, cases spiked in the city and in the state, although health officials did not specify how many of those cases were contracted at the Trump event.
One attendee was businessman and conservative activist Herman Cain, who tested positive nine days after the rally and died a few weeks later.