Speaking to a crowd gathered inside Alro Steel in Potterville on Thursday afternoon, former President Donald Trump vowed to stop the construction of the Chinese-controlled electric-vehicle battery plant Gotion in Michigan’s Mecosta County.
He also pledged to restore Michigan’s reputation as an automotive manufacturer.
But first Trump stressed that he possesses profound policy differences from his presidential campaign opponent, current Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Throughout his 71-minute speech, Trump referred to Harris as “Comrade Kamala.”
“I’m here today with a simple message for the American auto worker and for the American worker,” Trump began. “Your long economic nightmare will very soon be over. It’s going to be over, the turn it around. With your vote, we will defeat Comrade Kamala Harris and we will bring back the American dream bigger, better, stronger,” he told the Eaton County audience.
“Over the past four years, Kamala and crooked Joe Biden have presided over an economic reign of terror, committing one financial atrocity after another,” Trump continued. “As vice president Kamala cast the deciding votes that caused the worst inflation in American history,” he said, referring to the $1.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by Biden that sparked the nation’s highest inflation in decades. “You’re all victims of it. We all are. Everybody is a victim of it.”
He said the IRA and resulting inflation costs the typical family $28,000, and stated that under the Biden administration’s policies household wealth has plummeted by $33,000 per family while credit card debt nationwide has ballooned 40%.
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“Kamala’s made middle class life unaffordable and unlivable and I’m going to make America affordable again in addition to making it great again,” he said. “We’re gonna make it affordable again and that’s gonna be starting on day one.”
After calling Harris a Marxist and a Fascist, Trump outlined his vision for a second term should he win in November
“My vision is for a middle class that is once again the envy of the entire world is gonna happen,” he said. “It’s gonna happen fast…. Communities … should be able to afford a nice house, a new car, and a growing family on a single income all while enjoying the highest standard of living on earth,” he added.
“Americans deserve safe streets, secure borders, great schools, healthy children, bustling factories, and a nation that is confident and a nation that is strong. That’s the future that I intend to deliver and I will deliver. And you had the best economy in the history of our country just a short while ago and now you have what they call inflation….”
Trump also said Harris burnished her Marxist credentials by endorsing the “Marxist crusade” to defund the police.
“She’s a Marxist. Her father’s a Marxist, he’s a Marxist professor…. This election is not a choice between Democrats and Republicans it’s a choice between communism and freedom, that’s what it’s about.”
He then pivoted to energy, saying the Biden administration’s policies have been disastrous.
“Under President Trump, America’s future will be energy abundance energy independence and soon we will be energy dominant,” he said.
“I will also stop Chinese owned electric vehicle battery companies from coming,” he said, referencing the proposed Gotion plant in Green Charter Township and the Ford CATL plant in Marshall. “To me if you get in stealing our intellectual property our workers knowledge, and then sending it back to communist China . We’re not gonna let that happen we’re not gonna let that happen,” he promised.
“Every part of comrade’s economic plan looks like it was written for her by the Chinese Communist party,” he said.