MOSINEE — President Donald Trump tonight at a Wisconsin rally told supporters a vote for his Dem opponent Joe Biden would be a vote for China and the “violent, left-wing mob.”
Outside a Central Wisconsin Airport hangar in Mosinee, Trump continued to hit on a law-and-order theme while promising that 2021 would be “truly the best year of all” for the Wisconsin economy if he’s reelected.
He blamed trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the North American Free Trade Agreement for siphoning the manufacturing industry from the state, and said Biden “supported every disastrous trade deal in the last half a century.”
“Biden would absolutely eradicate your state’s economy,” he said. “If Biden wins, China wins, the mob wins, the rioters, arsonists and flag burners win.”
Trump over the nearly two-hour event criticized Biden for only visiting the state after violent unrest in Kenosha stemming from the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He said the former vice president would “surrender our country to the violent, left-wing mob.”
Trump was last in the state two weeks ago to visit Kenosha following the unrest that resulted in millions in property damage. He knocked Biden for not coming to Wisconsin to apologize for failing to appear in Milwaukee to accept his party’s nomination during the Dems’ national convention. The president also hit on a series of his regular rally themes, including his boast that he had created the world’s greatest economy before the COVID-19 pandemic.
He vowed the country would complete a “safe and effective” vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic within the year and alluded that it “could be very very soon,” referring to previous comments where he suggested a vaccine could be available before the November election.
“The single greatest year Wisconsin has ever had was last year,” he told supporters. “The second best year was the year before. And guess what the third was? And you’re going to have your best year, economically, next year.”
Ahead of the rally, Biden slammed Trump, saying the president “misled the American people about the coronavirus — and Wisconsin families continue to suffer the consequences.”
“His betrayal of the fundamental duties of the office has left Wisconsin small businesses shuttered, parents worrying about their children’s safety at school, far too many workers out of a job, and thousands of families mourning the loss of loved ones,” he said in a statement. “It didn’t have to be this bad.”
The president then took credit for the Big Ten college athletics conference bringing back a football plan after initially postponing the season due to COVID-19 concerns. He said he worked with conference leaders and UW-Madison Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, adding that he hopes Wisconsin’s team “does well after all that.”
As he often does, Trump pointed out various elected officials in the crowd for praise, including U.S. Reps. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua; Bryan Steil, R-Janesville; and Glenn Grothman, R-Glenbeulah. He also told 3rd CD GOP candidate Derrick Van Orden the retired Navy SEAL had his full support in November against U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse.
Trump also pointed out former GOP U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, who was one of the president’s early backers in Wisconsin. Trump showered praise on the Wausau Republican and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy. At one point, he suggested Duffy, who resigned from Congress a year ago ahead of the birth of his ninth child, might run for Wisconsin guv.
GOP U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson also was scheduled to travel with President Trump to the rally in Mosinee. But he canceled those plans to quarantine for the next 12 days after coming in contact this week with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.
See video here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?475727-1/president-trump-speaks-mosinee-wisconsin
