PENNSYLVANIA — As Vice President Pence comes to New Cumberland today for a rally, Pennsylvanians have long since learned a simple way to determine if they can trust President Trump or Vice President Pence: if their lips are moving, they’re probably lying. Four years of the Trump-Pence administration have convinced voters that they can’t afford to trust Trump and Pence, thanks to a slew of broken promises like these:
TRUMP: “We’re going to bring back our manufacturing, we’re going to bring back our jobs that formed the backbone of the American middle class and our country as a whole.” [Trump Campaign Rally, Valley Forge PA, 11/1/16]
REALITY: Donald Trump is on pace to go down as the worst jobs president in history, and his policies haven’t done what he’s claimed they would for Pennsylvania’s economy.
- The unemployment rate in the Harrisburg area is 8.7%, nearly twice the rate it was when Trump took office.
- Nearly 350,000 additional Pennyslvanians are still out of work in Trump’s COVID economy.
- Even before COVID-19, manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania were higher on average during the Obama-Biden Administration than during the Trump administration, and in January 2020, Pennsylvania manufacturing growth had already stagnated.
- Nationwide, 5 million more Americans are unemployed than when Trump took office.
- The unemployment rate is the highest going into an election year and he is the first president to oversee a period of net job loss in his first four years since WWII.
- Job growth was slower in Trump’s first three years than it was under the economy he inherited from President Obama.
- Trump’s trade war with China cost over 175,000 factory jobs even before the pandemic.
TRUMP: “We will create quality, reliable, affordable healthcare and a free market where parents can make the health care decisions that they really want to make for their families.” [Trump in Valley Forge, November 1, 2016]
REALITY: Donald Trump has spent the last four years hellbent on destroying Pennsylvanians’ health care, and just one week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act.
- More than 5.3 million Pennsylvanians under 65 — above half the population under that age threshold — have pre-existing conditions like asthma, diabetes or a history of cancer, which would allow insurance companies to deny them health care or charge them exorbitant premiums if the ACA is torn down.
- Additionally, nearly 180,000 Pennsylvanians have survived coronavirus — which would likely also be treated as a pre-existing condition if the ACA is eliminated.
- An additional 765,000 Pennsylvanians who are enrolled in the Keystone State’s Medicaid expansion would likely lose their health care coverage if Trump succeeds in getting rid of the ACA.
- Drug costs have consistently risen under the Trump administration, and Pennsylvania seniors could have to pay as much as $2,000 or more in prescription drug costs every year if the ACA is repealed and the Medicare Part D “donut hole” is reopened.
- Pennsylvanians on Medicare or employer-sponsored health care plans would still likely see costs rise should Trump manage to destroy the ACA, as wellness visits and other preventative care would no longer have to be covered.
TRUMP: “So I think, when you ask how did we do — and I have to say it because the news is so fake and so corrupt — I think we did a spectacular job [on COVID].” [White House Press Briefing, April 30, 2020]
REALITY: Trump’s and Pence’s incompetent COVID response has been disaster for Pennsylvania, leading to a massive recession, hundreds of thousands of dead Americans, an no real strategy to stop the virus’ spread.
- Nearly 220,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, including over 8,500 Pennsylvanians.
- Despite more than half a year having passed since the pandemic came to America, Trump shows no sign of getting the virus under control; on Saturday Pennsylvania reported 1,857 new COVID cases, the second highest total since the beginning of the pandemic.
- As many as 700 thousand Pennsylvanians had lost their job at the peak of the COVID recession, and unemployment had more than tripled since the start of the year. Trump’s COVID economy has become the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
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