Trump's Rust Belt revival is fading. Will it matter in 2020?
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — President Donald Trump once promised that coal and steel would be the beating heart of a revived U.S. economy — a nostalgic vision that helped carry him to victory three years ago in the industrial Midwest.
But a year away from Election Day, that promised renaissance is not materializing and both sectors are faltering in ways that are painfully familiar and politically significant.
Recent data show manufacturing jobs are disappearing across Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, all states critical to Trump's reelection chances. On Tuesday, Murray Energy, a major mining firm with close ties to the president, became the latest of many coal companies to file for bankruptcy this year, rattling communities across Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. The news followed recent layoffs at a prominent steel manufacturer in northeastern Ohio and General Motors' final decision this fall to shutter its massive plant at Lordstown, Ohio.
The turmoil in the manufacturing and mining sectors threatens to undermine Trump's claim to a booming economy — the bedrock of his and his Republican allies' campaign strategy — in places where it matters most. While Trump's economy is benefiting high-tech manufacturing and energy sectors in other regions, the manufacturing slump across the Rust Belt may test whether Trump can retain his appeal to blue-collar workers without having fully delivered on his promise to fatten their bank accounts.
Read more: https://www.news-journal.com/ap/national/trump-s-rust-belt-revival-is-fading-will-it-matter/article_5e94c91a-9573-5eb8-913e-deb039b0452f.html
(Longview News-Journal)
