Joe Biden is mopping the floor with Donald Trump
While Donald Trump spent a considerable amount of time in the Rust Belt trying to convince his base that he would somehow bring back manufacturing jobs, he did it without any clear plan of how it would happen, and the media largely let him skate on it as they never took his candidacy all that seriously. That’s unfortunate, because after he was elected, not only did Trump fail to deliver on these vague promises that were really just meant to reel in the votes of any blue collar workers who were on the fence because they were otherwise skeptical of having anything to do with Trump, but manufacturing actually went into a recession under his administration, well before the rest of the country – and before the COVID-19 pandemic was even on the radar.
However, under President Biden, manufacturing is already coming back and in a big way, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure deal that was passed in November. General Motors is now investing an historic $7 billion in the pivotal swing state of Michigan – with $2.6 billion set aside to build rechargeable batteries for electric cars at its Lansing facility and another $4 billion to be spent on building new electric pickup trucks.
Altogether, these investments will create 4,000 new jobs in clean energy, while also opening a critical window for leadership in the transition from combustible to electric vehicles. This transition alone was considered a remote dream at the beginning of the 2000s, and it’s legislation that likely would have never seen the light of day if the GOP had its way yet again. President Biden promised to deliver for the American people on manufacturing, and just a year into his administration, he’s keeping that promise.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making