On the campaign trail, Trump promised voters in Ohio and throughout the midwest that he would save manufacturing jobs. But it turns out that was just another broken promise by a boastful liar.
Instead, an embarrassed Trump melted down this weekend in reaction to a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that recently stopped production.
Trump tweeted Saturday, “Because the economy is so good, General Motors must get their Lordstown, Ohio, plant open, maybe in a different form or with a new owner, FAST!” “G.M. MUST ACT QUICKLY. Time is of the essence!”
The next day, Trump decided to blame union workers — falsely — for GM’s decision to shutter the plant, going so far as to call out the president of the local union by name.
“Democrat UAW Local 1112 President David Green ought to get his act together and produce. G.M. let our Country down, but other much better car companies are coming into the U.S. in droves. I want action on Lordstown fast. Stop complaining and get the job done! 3.8% Unemployment!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s meltdown comes months after GM initially announced, in November 2018, that it would close five North American plants, including the one in Lordstown. At the time, GM noted that Trump’s disastrous trade wars cost the company more than $1 billion. Between the five plants, GM said almost 15,000 workers would lose their jobs.
In early March, the final car — a Chevy Cruze — rolled off the Lordstown assembly line.
On Monday morning, GM made clear to Trump that they were, in fact, working closely with the union when making decisions about which plants to close. But an angry, and perhaps humiliated, Trump was apparently looking for someone to blame in light of his broken campaign pledges.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly told workers in Ohio that he would single-handedly save manufacturing in the region. Trump promised to make Ohio a “manufacturing behemoth,” saying companies would flood the region with manufacturing plants and provide jobs.
Even after he was in office, he kept making the same boasts. “I was looking at some of those big, once-incredible job-producing factories…Those jobs have left Ohio,” Trump said in Youngstown, Ohio in July 2017. “They’re all coming back. They’re all coming back. Don’t move. Don’t sell your house,” he advised people.
GM’s announcement to shutter five plants came a year after those comments, and Ohio workers know who’s to blame.
Nanette Senters worked in the Lordstown plant. After news broke that the plant would close, she organized a letter-writing campaign to Trump, asking for him to help. As of early February, she never heard from him. “He lied,” Senters said of Trump. “He doesn’t care.”
Yet Trump absolutely refuses to accept responsibility for either his broken promise, or the fact that his failed trade war played a role in the massive layoffs and plant closures.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
IMAGE: A worker installs parts onto the dashboard for the Chevrolet Cruze car as it moves along the assembly line at the General Motors Cruze assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio July 22, 2011. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk
