President Trump has appeared across the United States in the run-up to the midterm elections, announcing economic development projects — from a possible pipeline in Alaska to a steel mill in Iowa to an aluminum smelter in Oklahoma — that he says will transform the country.
“In the real economy we are messing up,” he said. during a weekend in Tennessee.
Trump’s message of confidence comes as the final form of these plans remains far from certain and often directly echoes his rhetoric at this point in the 2018 midterm elections, according to research from Yahoo Finance.
That election, eight years ago, was the last time Trump faced midterm voters and also saw him tout projects — including a planned Foxconn electronics manufacturing plant in Wisconsin — that turned out to be less than advertised.
“FoxConn…drew its ribbon a few months ago,” Trump told a stop in Wisconsin on the eve of the 2018 electionssaying the project is expected to create “nearly 15,000 jobs and there is no comparable factory in the United States.”
But the company ultimately abandoned much of its manufacturing plans at the site and focused on data centers. Today she employs only 1,200 people reported on the site.
The president’s penchant for promises is on display again as Election Day approaches.
On Tuesday, he is expected to travel to Alaska to tout a $50 billion gas pipeline project from South Korea to Alaska that could help Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan fend off a Democratic challenge.
Trump revealed the project earlier this month in the Oval Office with Sullivan at his side, but South Korean officials immediately pushed back, saying no final investment decision has been made.
Korean President Lee Jae Myung even added that the deal will only be completed once the “commercial viability of the project is confirmed”.
Trump’s promises in recent weeks also included a $4 billion aluminum processing plant in Oklahoma. But local opposition to the project — citing possible toxic chemicals and rising electricity prices — led the city’s mayor and a board to suspend zoning approvals, leaving the project’s fate up in the air.
Even the project developers recently reported to the SEC that “To complete this project, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding, and there can be no assurance that such funding will be available.”
That didn’t slow Trump down saying earlier this month that it would be “the largest aluminum plant, perhaps in the world, and you’re going to make a fortune with it, a lot of jobs, a lot of everything.”
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