In this week’s edition of too little, too late, presumptive Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris tweeted out how she and Joe Biden will make sure small businesses recover once they are installed in the White House:
Small businesses, especially Black and minority-owned businesses, urgently need relief to survive the effects of coronavirus this winter. @JoeBiden and I are committed to helping these businesses during this pandemic and get them the support they need to thrive in years to come.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 28, 2020
This is just fascinating. Let’s review Harris’s record on riots and pandemic relief that was aimed at helping small businesses. When riots erupted in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd, Kamala Harris tweeted out the link to a bail fund for those arrested, setting fires and looting businesses. Those riots caused an estimated $500 million in damage to that city. According to the Star Tribune:
More than 500 shops and restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul have reported damage when protests on five nights turned violent over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Dozens of properties burned to the ground.
Owners and insurance experts estimate the costs of the damage could exceed $500 million. That would make the Twin Cities riots the second-costliest civil disturbance in U.S. history, trailing only those in Los Angeles in 1992, which were also sparked by racial tensions with police and had $1.4 billion in damages in today’s dollars.
Minneapolis was not the only city that sustained damage during these uprisings nationwide. PJ Media’s Tyler O’Neil did an early round-up of the damage to businesses:
Yet the protests over George Floyd have devolved into looting, vandalism, and arson. In Sacramento alone, the riots have cost approximately $10 million in damage. Rioters damaged an estimated 50 businesses and properties were damaged in Pittsburgh, with similar numbers in Seattle (50 businesses), Chicago (45 properties), and Madison, Wisc. (75 businesses).
One would think that if Senator Harris cares deeply about small business owners, she would have apologized for helping those responsible for the destruction getting released on bail. Or, at a minimum, she would have called for an end to the violence. But on an appearance with late-night host Stephen Colbert, she said just the opposite. She asserted that these “protests” were not going to stop before or after Election Day, and they shouldn’t:
Even Colbert, known Democrat boot-licker, looked stunned. Perhaps he had some inkling that these thugs would eventually show up in gated communities like the McCloskey’s in St. Louis.
To add insult to injury, as a senator, Kamala Harris voted with Democrats in the Senate to filibuster a GOP pandemic relief bill that extended the Paycheck Protection Act to support small businesses. This was to force the GOP to take up the larger HEROES Act passed by the House that included ridiculous bailouts for poorly managed blue states, such as her home state of California.
Her home city, in California’s Bay Area, has already suffered a crisis of small business closures, and statewide, it is just as devastating. The number of small businesses that remain open during crushing lockdowns dropped nearly 30% last month, and new orders closed Los Angeles’s nearly 31,000 restaurants to anything other than take-out service the day before Thanksgiving.
COVID-19 lockdowns have created one of the largest transfers of wealth on record. Online retailers like Amazon and big-box retailers have raked in the dough during these restrictions. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and other billionaires have increased their net worth by approximately $500 billion during the pandemic, according to one analysis. Oddly, many of these wealthy Americans are also Democrat donors.
So, cool story Kamala. Not buying it.
She wasn’t the only Democrat who either did nothing to stop the riots that devastated entire cities or has ordered crushing lockdowns that have small businesses shuttering for good in blue areas. Here are some of the worst examples:
Happy #SmallBusinessSaturday!
Small businesses drive NY's economy and make our communities and neighborhoods unique.
Support YOUR locally-owned small businesses.
Shop local & shop safe, this Saturday and every day. pic.twitter.com/7KrtgsxbLD
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) November 28, 2020
Today is Small Business Saturday. California is home to over 4 million small businesses. This holiday season, shop safe and shop local to help support our economy and the over 7 million workers that help keep our small businesses going.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 28, 2020
Don’t just talk about saving small businesses — use your power to make a difference in bringing our city back.
Shop local this holiday season. pic.twitter.com/0sO6bOHrSv
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 29, 2020
We launched L.A. Optimized, a program to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic get digital tools to connect with customers online. Find info at https://t.co/6GOQPda8eA.
More resources for impacted businesses and workers at https://t.co/IQaYZNcqdU. #SmallBusinessSaturday pic.twitter.com/EhA8MvOBi7
— MayorOfLA (@MayorOfLA) November 28, 2020
Talk about zero self-awareness. All of these Democrats seem to suffer from that particular problem.
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