DON JR. CAN’T SPIN TRUMP’S FAILED ECONOMIC RECORD, FAILED CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE
YOUNGSTOWN — Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to Youngstown today is the first time a Trump has set foot in the Mahoning Valley since three years ago when the president told Ohioans, “Don’t move, don’t sell your house” — and then General Motors decided to shut down their Lordstown factory, leading to the loss of thousands of Ohio jobs.
From Chairman David Pepper:
“Haven’t the people of the Mahoning Valley suffered enough? Working families across the region have lost their health, lives and livelihoods because of Donald Trump’s four years of chaos and incompetence. Now, his own administration is admitting they have no intention of getting this pandemic under control. But instead of receiving urgently needed help, folks in the Mahoning Valley have to hear from a guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who flouted the state’s mask mandate the last time he was here in our state. Ohioans deserve better — that’s why we’re turning out in record numbers to elect Joe Biden and end the nightmare of the Trump presidency.”
BACKGROUND ON TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES TO OHIO
Promise: “Those jobs have left Ohio. They’re all coming back. They’re all coming back. Don’t move. Don’t sell your house. Don’t sell your house.” [Trump Campaign Rally, Youngstown, July 25, 2017]
- Reality: After General Motors closed its Lordstown plant — costing 5,400 Ohioans their jobs — Trump tried to shift blame onto laid-off workers and their elected union leaders.
- Reality: Trump called for a boycott on Goodyear tires, undermining thousands of Ohioans’ livelihoods. His attacks drew widespread condemnation from workers, community leaders and even LeBron James — but no defense from Ohio Republicans.
- Reality: Last year was Ohio’s worst year for job creation since 2009 — the height of the Great Recession. From January 2019 to January 2020 — even before the coronavirus crisis hit and decimated the economy — Ohio lost 12,500 jobs, including 6,000 jobs in manufacturing.
Promise: ““Many plants are being built right now — auto plants — in Michigan, just like I said. They’re being built in Ohio, they’re being built in South Carolina, North Carolina, they’re being built all over and expanded at a level that we’ve never seen before.” [White House Press Conference, Sept. 7, 2020]
- Reality: The Washington Post’s fact checker awarded Trump’s claim “four Pinocchios” and noted, “There are no new plants in Ohio.”
Promise: “My plan is to crush the virus.” [Donald Trump, Dayton, Sept. 21, 2020]
- Reality: With more than 225,000 Americans dead and more than 8.6 million infected, the United States has 4 percent of the world’s population but 20 percent of infections and deaths. In Ohio alone, more than 198,000 people have contracted the virus, and more than 5,200 have lost their lives.
- Reality: WFMJ: For 2nd day in a row, Ohio records largest increase of COVID-19 cases. “With 2,366 newly reported cases Wednesday compared to the previous day, Ohio has set the third record in a week, according to figures from the Ohio Department of Health. Wednesday’s record follows Saturday’s previous record of 2,234 cases. Before that, Thursday set a record of 2,178 cases.”
Promise: “We have to protect our most vulnerable citizens against this horrible virus.” [Trump, Clyde, Aug. 6, 2020]
- Reality: Even in the midst of a global pandemic, Trump and the Republican Party are attempting to overturn the Affordable Care Act — endangering health coverage for 741,000 Ohioans and threatening protections for as many as 5 million Ohioans with pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma and even COVID-19. The Ohio Hospital Association has warned that repealing the ACA would put a quarter of the state’s hospitals at risk of closure.
- Reality: Cleveland.com: 3,214 coronavirus patient deaths to date in Ohio nursing homes, other long-term care facilities. “Overall in Ohio, 53% of the deaths have been to people age 80 and older, with another 25% in their 70s.”
Promise: “We’re attacking the virus from every angle. And through this aggressive strategy, we will win the war, and it will happen sooner than people think.” [Donald Trump, Clyde, Aug. 6, 2020]
- Reality: Trump knew how deadly the virus was from the beginning, but he kept the truth from Ohioans and repeatedly downplayed the pandemic.
- Reality: Even as experts warned of a coming pandemic, Trump sent record shipments of N95 masks overseas. As the Washington Post reported, a shortage of N95 masks still persists months into the pandemic, “leaving health care workers exposed, patients at risk and public health experts flummoxed over a seemingly simple question: Why is the world’s richest country still struggling to meet the demand for an item that once cost around $1 apiece?”
