On Wednesday, President Joe Biden criticized Donald Trump for a botched project from the previous administration that aimed to create thousands of new jobs in southeastern Wisconsin, while simultaneously praising new economic investments he oversaw that are going to the same region.
That location in the battleground state will now host a new data center from Microsoft, whose president lauded the Biden administration’s economic initiatives for clearing the way for the new investments. For Biden, it provided another point of contrast with Trump, who had promised a $10 billion investment from Taiwan-based electronics firm Foxconn that never materialized.
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In actuality, he arrived with your senator, Ron Johnson, holding a golden shovel and promising to construct the world’s eighth wonder. “Are you kidding me?” Biden addressed the throng of around 300 people, who clapped and cheered as he spoke. “Look what happened.” They dug a hole with their golden shovels and then fell into it.
Biden added a jab, noting that the project, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, required the demolition of 100 homes: “Foxconn proved to be just that—a fraud.” That’s strange.
Biden was in Sturtevant, Racine County, to promote the $3.3 billion Microsoft data center, which the Democratic president claims would employ approximately 2,300 union construction workers and 2,000 permanent employees.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Microsoft President Brad Smith stated that the company has a “steadfast commitment to underpromising and overdelivering” and praised the Biden administration and the state’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, for economic policies that have laid the groundwork for the developments announced Wednesday.
However, Biden was eager to take credit and use the opportunity to repeatedly criticize Trump, claiming that his presumed Republican challenger embraced the same type of “trickle-down economics” that Biden despises and failed to revive domestic manufacturing during his four years in the White House.
“Folks, during the previous administration, my predecessor made promises, which he broke more than kept, leaving a lot of people behind in communities like Racine,” Biden stated. “On my watch, we make promises, and we keep them.”
Trump’s campaign did not mention Foxconn, but the Republican former president frequently claims the economy was in far better shape when he was in office and will be again if he wins in 2024. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley stated that Biden’s trip aimed to “preserve his reputation in Racine County while Wisconsinites grapple with the consequences of Bidenomics.”
“Manufacturing has stalled, family farms are shuttering, and costs are up for everything from electricity and gas to food and housing,” Whatley stated. “It’s no wonder why Biden is losing in Wisconsin and battleground states across the country: his policies have failed and people want President Trump back in office.”
On the other hand, Foxconn stated that its current Wisconsin operation “greatly contributes” to the company, which has invested over $1 billion in the state and already employs more than 1,000 people at Foxconn Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents the district where Biden was touring on Wednesday, said the Microsoft statement was positive for workers. But Steil claims Biden is using it to disguise his record of failing to control increasing inflation, and that Biden is taking credit for private-sector work in the region that began a decade ago, much of it for the Foxconn plant.
On Wednesday, Trump returned to Florida on his day off from his New York hush money trial, meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club with people who had purchased digital trading card NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, as part of a promotion, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. The “MugShot Edition” NFTs depicted Trump as a cowboy with lightning coming from his hands, marching past the United States Capitol and taking Lincoln’s place at the Lincoln Memorial.
Later, Biden spoke with around 50 black supporters and volunteers in a racist community center, explaining that he first became involved in politics “because of the African-American community.”
He also quickly explained the election’s implications, warning of the potential damage to democracy and Trump’s vows to “get rid of all the stuff that we’ve done.”
Racine County is a critical location. All but five of the previous 33 victorious presidential candidates carried it. Trump is one of five. He won Racine County, but lost the election. Biden became the first Democrat since 1976 to win Wisconsin without carrying Racine County.
The campaign is predicted to be close in Wisconsin, where four of the previous six presidential elections were decided by less than one percentage point. Biden won by slightly under 21,000 votes in 2020. A recent Marquette University poll found that Republican voters in Wisconsin are slightly more enthused about the election than Democrats.
Biden also flew to Chicago for a fundraiser on Wednesday, assuring his contributors that he does not believe the polls showing his low support ratings are real. However, he aggressively attacked Trump during the event, expressing his belief that people’s perception of his predecessor, not Biden’s own record, will determine the outcome of the November election.
Biden’s visit to Wisconsin, his fourth of the year and 11th as president, coincides with his reelection campaign’s increased appeal to minority voters on the airwaves. It announced the commencement of a new $14 million digital and television blitz, building on the $30 million push that began following his State of the Union address in early March.
One of the new advertisements in the latest ad campaign focuses on Trump’s unsuccessful but persistent attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. According to the campaign, a large amount of the $14 million campaign, which begins Wednesday, would be spent on black and Hispanic media, as well as Asian American print and radio.
According to Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground director, Biden’s reelection operation will have over 200 offices and over 500 staff members by the end of May. These figures include offices in Michigan, Arizona, and North Carolina that have generally received little Democratic investment.
While Microsoft has been building artificial intelligence-driven data centers all over the world, “this one is more important than many because there is more land and, ultimately, access to power available,” said Smith, who grew up in the area where the center is being built.
Once operational, even the most powerful data centers typically require a small number of full-time personnel to manage them. According to Smith, Microsoft will employ approximately 500 highly trained professionals from the Milwaukee-to-Chicago region.
