Former President Donald Trump says he’ll make America’s economy great again.
And, according to the Trump campaign, the latest jobs numbers show American workers are in trouble and it’s time for a change.
“Just 114,000 jobs were created in July, while unemployment shot up to 4.3 percent — its highest since October 2021 — as economists warn the U.S. is in the early stages of a recession,” the Trump campaign said in a statement Friday.
A day earlier, Trump gave a speech on economic policy to the New York Economic Club, where he said a key to returning economic greatness is America’s energy sector, particularly in Pennsylvania.
“Energy [policy] is what caused our problem initially. Energy is going to bring us back.”
He contrasted his approach to that of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he said “wants four more years to impose a radical left agenda a threat to every American family.”
Trump laid out a plan to increase domestic oil and gas production.
“First, I will end Kamala Harris’ energy crusade and implement a policy of energy abundance, energy independence, and even energy dominance. We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country, including Russia and Saudi Arabia. We’ll be using it. My plan will cut energy prices in half, or more than that within 12 months of taking office.”
By bringing gasoline prices lower than $2 a gallon, other prices, from airfares to electricity, will go down, he said.
“Meanwhile, Kamala Harris cannot bring down the price of anything because her energy policies are driving up the cost of everything. Everything is up, way up,” said Trump.
The Biden-Harris administration shut down the Keystone pipeline in America “on day one” while allowing the Russian Nordstream 2 pipeline to go through, Trump reminded his audience.
“If I was president, oil production would be four times higher than it is right now,” said Trump. Additionally, he had opened up the ANWAR site in Alaska to drilling but the Biden-Harris administration closed it.
And, the Biden-Harris EPA has shut down “more than 50 power plants…setting the stage for a catastrophic energy shortfall that will make inflation far worse than it has ever been.”
Trump said he would issue an energy emergency declaration to cut through bureaucratic red tape to open more energy plants.
“We will blast through every bureaucratic hurdle to issue rapid approvals for new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new electric plants, and reactors of all types.
Prices will fall immediately in anticipation of this tremendous supply that we can create very quickly. And we’ll be the leader instead of the laggard,” said Trump.
Trump said Harris wants to “ban fracking in Pennsylvania and everywhere else, take away your private health insurance and perhaps most pertinent to the very brilliant people in this room, raise your business and corporate taxes, and unbelievably she will seek a tax on unrealized capital gains…She’s been after this for years and as everyone knows, she’s a Marxist who destroyed almost singlehandedly San Francisco.”
“Kamala Harris is the first major party nominee who fundamentally rejects freedom and embraces Marxism, communism, and fascism,” Trump said.
As for her claim that she’s reversed her position on fracking and now opposes a ban, Trump dismissed it as unbelievable.
“Harris recently said her values have not changed,” Trump said. “That’s what she wants.”
“Communism is the past. Freedom is the future, and it is time to send Comrade Kamala Harris back home to California,” Trump added.
Trump also promised to end the “Green New Deal” and its mandates for electric vehicles; cut unnecessary regulations; prioritize government efficiency, saying Tesla CEO Elon Musk agreed to help; encourage domestic manufacturing; and improve affordable housing by reducing inflation to lower mortgage costs.
“She’s promising communist price controls, wealth confiscation, energy annihilation, reparations, the largest tax increase ever imposed, and mass amnesty and citizenship for tens of millions of migrants who will consume trillions of dollars in federal benefits and destroy Social Security and Medicare,” Trump said.
The Harris campaign said Thursday, “Vice President Harris has a plan for a new way forward on the economy to boost the middle class, working Americans, and small businesses. She has an agenda that is responsible, funding her plans by ensuring billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share. She has an agenda to reduce Americans’ grocery, healthcare, and housing costs and other everyday expenses where most Americans just need a little help.
“Trump may try to distort objective reality on his dangerous plans, but mainstream experts agree on the devastating results of his agenda: shrinking the economy, undermining job growth, driving up inflation, exploding the national debt, and raising taxes on the middle class.”
Trump argues he’s the best choice for the economy.
“For four straight years, I fought for American workers like I would fight for my own family,” Trump said. “I took care of our economy like I would take care of my own company. In every decision I asked, will I create jobs here or will I be sending jobs overseas? I always put America first.”
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