Biden announced the construction of a $3.3 billion artificial intelligence data centre on the site where the proposed Foxconn plant never materialised.
The data centre, to be owned and operated by Microsoft, is expected to employ 2,300 unionised workers during the construction phase, and will eventually require 2,000 permanent workers. Racine, the location of the facility, was once a manufacturing powerhouse in the Badger State until globalisation and manufacturing slowdowns led to significant job losses.
In June 2018, Trump, who promised an industrial renaissance during his tenure, announced the construction of a Foxconn semiconductor fabrication facility in Racine, which he claimed would create 13,000 jobs. However, the planned facility never materialised, leaving an empty site and memories of unfulfilled promises from Trump's visit six years ago.
WATCH: THE FASCINATING STORY OF BRIDGETTE GABRIEL
Biden attributed the decline in employment in Racine and similar places to the "trickle-down economics" favoured by Trump and his advisers. He recalled how the former president had brought a gold-coloured shovel to break ground on the facility in a highly-publicised announcement alongside Republican Senator Ron Johnson and then-Governor Scott Walker.
WATCH: JIMMY FALLON MOCKS UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
May 09, 2024
Despite over $500 million in state funds spent on purchasing and preparing the site, Foxconn's promised investment never materialised. Biden said, "Look what happened — they dug a hole, those golden shovels and then they fell into it." He added that "hundreds of homes" had been "bought and bulldozed" using Wisconsinites' tax dollars for "a project that never happened."
"Foxconn turned out to be just that — a con," Biden said. "Go figure."
Biden noted that 83,500 jobs had actually left the Badger State during Trump's term, compared with the 178,000 jobs that have been created there since he took office in 2021. "We're gonna create more here in Racine, big time," he said.
FROM COAST TO COAST: DO YOU LIVE IN ONE OF AMERICA'S FASTEST-GROWING CITIES?
Biden added that his administration's "Investing in America agenda" has "created $866 billion in private sector investment nationwide," adding hundreds of thousands of jobs to the US economy, "building new semiconductor factories, electric vehicles and battery factories and so much more."
TULIPS AND HIGH HOPES: THE BIZARRE BOTANICAL MIX-UP AT WISCONSIN'S CAPITOL!
Biden also promised that the job growth seen on his watch thus far is "only the beginning." "We're seeing the great American comeback story all across Wisconsin. And quite frankly, the entire country. The bottom line is we're doing what's always worked in this country, giving people a fair shot, leaving nobody behind and growing the economy from the bottom up — not the top down," he said, just before closing his remarks to chants of "four more years" from a boisterous crowd of union workers.
TRUMP STAGES HUGE RETURN TO NEW YORK, SEE WHERE, WHEN AND HOW!
Biden's visit to Wisconsin was a direct rebuke to the former president, who was expected to spend the day at his Palm Beach, Florida home meeting with supporters who purchased Trump-branded Non-Fungible Tokens while on a day-long break from his New York criminal trial on charges of allegedly falsifying business records.
DIVIDE IN TRUMP LAND? A THIRD OF HIS OWN VOTERS BREAK RANKS OVER NYC LEGAL DRAMA
The White House said Biden's visit to the Badger State was meant to showcase "a community at the heart of his commitment to invest in places that have been historically overlooked or failed by the last administration's policies."
"President Biden's Investing in America agenda is growing the economy from the middle-out and bottom-up, giving Americans more breathing room, and unleashing hundreds of billions of dollars of private sector investment in industries of the future, including AI, clean energy, semiconductors, and more," the White House said.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
