President Trump took aim at the “economic treachery” of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, blasting the former vice president for the loss of thousands of jobs in Ohio while touting his own “America First” trade agenda.
In a speech in Dayton on “Fighting for the American Worker,” his first of two events in Ohio on Monday, Trump accused Biden of being “a die-hard globalist” who inflicted “terrible damage” on Ohio’s economy during his years in Washington.
“It’s not that he wants to crush America, but he will — just out of gross incompetence,” Trump said.
The North American Free Trade Agreement, which Biden supported when it was approved in 1993, caused the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the Dayton area, Trump said. Biden, he added, “should be begging for your forgiveness.”
Trump pointed to China’s entry into the World Trade Organization as “a total catastrophe.”
“That’s when China started going up like a rocket,” he added.
What followed was “nothing short of a blue-collar carnage,” Trump said, in a reprise of his populist promise to people delivered on the steps of the Capitol in 2017.
“The choice in November is very simple,” Trump told the crowd. “Whether we lift our nation to soaring heights of new prosperity, or whether we allow Sleepy Joe Biden to shut down the economy. If Biden wins, China wins. If we win, Ohio wins.”
Trump was joined at the event by Bob Paduchik, a senior adviser to his reelection campaign, and Ohio Reps. Warren Davidson of the 8th Congressional District, and Mike Turner of the 10th Congressional District. A shoutout to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine was met with boos from the crowd. The governor has been criticized by members of his party for his coronavirus response.
About 2,000 people were in attendance, with few wearing masks.
No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio, and though Trump won the state by 9 percentage points in 2016, there is some doubt about whether he will hold it come Election Day.
The race is tighter this year than in 2016. A Sept. 8 poll by Rasmussen shows Biden ahead among likely voters by 4 percentage points, at 49% to Trump at 45%, outside the margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Biden leads Trump by 2.4 percentage points in the state, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.
Trump is scheduled to hold an airport campaign rally, a Great American Comeback event, in Swanton on Monday evening.
