Graham Slattery
RACINE, Wis. (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sought to portray himself as the best candidate for the U.S. economy at a rally on Tuesday in Racine, Wisconsin, where a local plant he pioneered six years ago was a major failure.
The former president also vowed to quickly reverse a plan announced earlier in the day by Democratic President Joe Biden that would give hundreds of thousands of people in the country illegally a path to citizenship.
“When I’m re-elected, Joe Biden’s amnesty plan will be torn apart and thrown away,” Trump said of the immigration order, which applies to some spouses of U.S. citizens and some children.
In 2018, Trump was in the largely working-class coastal city of Racine to celebrate an expected $10 billion investment from Taiwanese technology group Foxconn. During his presidency from 2017 to 2021, Trump touted the plant, designed to make televisions, as an example of how his “America First” policies have rejuvenated American manufacturing.
But while Foxconn initially projected 13,000 new jobs at the plant, the company now expects to create only about 1,500 jobs. The empty fields west of downtown Racine, riddled with empty roads, serve as a local symbol of broken promises.
The company, which did not respond to a request for comment, previously said it had changed its plans due to lower forecast demand for the plant’s products.
Trump did not mention Foxconn on Tuesday. Instead, he focused on high inflation and mortgage rates that have undermined Biden’s popularity, including in politically competitive states such as Wisconsin.
“Nobody can buy a house anymore. The American Dream is dead. Interest rates are going through the roof,” Trump told a crowd gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan.
But Foxconn’s disappointing debut has opened a line of attack for local and national Democrats who say Trump has failed to deliver on his economic promises. They hope that message will resonate in Wisconsin, one of the few states expected to decide the Nov. 5 election.
Trump leads Biden in Wisconsin by 0.2 percentage points, according to a polling average from polling site FiveThirtyEight, even though he lost the state in 2020 and the two candidates are competing fiercely for every vote.
Biden was in Racine last month to tout Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:) $3.3 billion data center construction at the site where Foxconn was to build part of its manufacturing campus.
“Foxconn turned out to be a scam,” Biden told supporters on the campus of Sturtevant Technical College’s Gateway.
Still, Trump has a strong base of local support, with many voters willing to ditch Foxconn and some officials publicly saying they’re glad the jobs were created at all.
Anthony Ackman, an unemployed 28-year-old, said he was disappointed when a warehouse job he planned to apply for at Foxconn didn’t materialize.
But he said his personal finances have worsened under Biden and he is likely to vote for Trump this year, despite missing the last election.
“I wish we had better candidates this year, but in my opinion, Biden has shown no signs of improving the situation in this country,” Ackman said. “I think I’ll vote for Trump this year.”
In a statement, the Trump campaign accused Biden of failing to control inflation and raise wages.
“Joe Biden’s policies have led to higher prices, lower wages and shuttered manufacturing for American families, leading to Biden’s extremely low approval ratings across Wisconsin,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PERSECUTION OF IMMIGRANTS
Trump’s speech came hours after Biden announced new efforts to provide a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. illegally married to U.S. citizens.
Biden’s new program will be open to about 500,000 spouses who have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years as of June 17, officials said Tuesday. Approximately 50,000 children under age 21 with a U.S. citizen parent will also be eligible.
Trump again linked illegal immigration to violent crime at his rally, even though there is no evidence that immigrants in the country illegally commit crimes at a higher rate than U.S. citizens.
Racine is south of Milwaukee and is considered politically competitive even by Wisconsin standards. Trump carried the Democratic nominee in both 2016 and 2020 by about 4 percentage points, while former Democratic President Barack Obama narrowly won the district in 2008 and 2012.
Last week, Trump called Milwaukee, where next month the Republican National Convention will be held, a “horrible city” during a meeting with U.S. House Republicans.
His campaign said when he made the comment he was referring to violent crime and alleged election security problems in the city. On Tuesday, Trump sought to dispel any suggestions that he doesn’t like Wisconsin’s largest city.
“I love Milwaukee!” Trump stated this at the beginning of his speech. “These lying people say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t like Milwaukee.’ I love Milwaukee.”