(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden took shots at former President Donald Trump on Wednesday as he traveled to Wisconsin to tout a new multi-billion dollar Microsoft investment at the same site where a Trump administration project failed.
The event in the 2024 election battleground state, billed by the White House as an official stop in his capacity as president, came as Biden ramps up both campaign and official visits across the country while his political rival is largely stuck in a Manhattan courtroom.
“The administration promised a $10 trillion investment by Foxconn to build new manufacturing complex, create 13,000 new jobs. In fact, he came here with your Senator Ron Johnson, literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world,” Biden said, being careful not to use Trump’s name, referring to him only as “my predecessor.”
Biden instead announced a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build an AI data center at the location in Racine, Wisconsin. The data center will be at the same site that Trump planned for the Taiwanese tech company Foxconn to invest billions of dollars in 2018.
That facility failed to materialize, even after the Biden administration said that local and state governments pumped $500 million in taxpayer dollars into preparing the site.
“Are you kidding me? Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it,” Biden continued, trolling Trump.
Biden was referring to a 2018 groundbreaking ceremony that Trump participated in with other officials, all holding gold shovels. Then-President Trump shoveled dirt with the backdrop of the construction lot, tractors, and a large American flag.
“They wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, your state and local tax dollars, and promised a project that never happened,” Biden added. “Foxconn turned out to be just that, a con.”
Biden promised thousands of new jobs and his remarks were intended to draw a contrast between the Trump administration’s economic policies and the current White House approach — a message he’s continued to lean into as he looks to sell his economic accomplishments to the American people ahead of the November election.
“Folks, during the previous administration, my predecessor made promises which he broke more than kept and left a lot of people behind in communities like Racine. On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises. And we leave no one behind,” Biden said.
This official stop, in the critical swing state in Wisconsin, will be followed by a campaign event in the state.
Wednesday’s Wisconsin speech is just the most recent official event Biden has held in important electoral states. Last week, he was in North Carolina touting new funding to help replace lead pipes across the state and country.
He has also frequented the important swing state of Pennsylvania, for both campaign and official presidential events.
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