With the recent bombshell about lying con man and business buffoon Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump's tax returns showing not only massive debt and failure, but his contempt for taxpayers, the debate tonight in Cleveland, Ohio will have that topic as a late-breaking issue. But, as Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post notes, the state where the debate will be held has suffered significant job loss and economic dislocation as a result of Trump's broken promises:
"When President Trump steps on the debate stage Tuesday night in Ohio, no doubt he will claim the Buckeye State as his turf — living proof of his economic prowess, his ability to deliver an American manufacturing renaissance.
'It’s incredible what’s happened to the area,' he said Monday, in remarks at the White House previewing his talking points about supposedly resuscitated Ohio factories. 'It’s booming now.'
It’s a lie.
Not only because the poorly managed pandemic recession has destroyed 720,000 manufacturing jobs on net nationwide, including 38,000 in Ohio alone. Also because even before covid-19 broke out, Trump had deserted Ohio's manufacturing workers.
Just ask the laid-off workers themselves whether they agree that their fates represent, in Vice President Pence's terms, 'promises made, promises kept.'
'They’ve betrayed the American worker, they’ve betrayed all those people who voted for them and supported them,' says Dave Green, the former president of the UAW Local 1112, which represented workers at a now-defunct General Motors plant in Lordstown, about an hour away from the presidential debate stage." (our emphasis)
Former VP Joe Biden finds himself with a 5 point lead in new polling in the state of Ohio. Taking the opportunity to nail Trump on his broken promise to bring jobs back to Ohio, as part of his "Scranton vs. Park Avenue" message to working families, would make use of a great opportunity.
(photo: The closed Lordstown, OH General Motors plant. Ross Mantle / NY Times)
