Hope KarnoppAlison Dirr
CHICAGO — A video played at the Democratic National Convention before former President Bill Clinton's speech took a dig at the unfulfilled promises of the Foxconn deal championed by former President Donald Trump.
"Donald Trump talked a big game about bringing jobs back to America. But it was all talk, like Foxconn," an ironworker narrating the clip says. "Trump talked a massive game about infrastructure. What a joke."
When the Foxconn Technology Group project was pitched in 2017, it was sold as creating up to 13,000 jobs. The Racine County site is about 70 miles north of Chicago, where the convention is being held, and about 30 miles south of Milwaukee.
Trump in 2018 famously broke ground at the Mount Pleasant site alongside Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan. A clip of the groundbreaking was included in the Democrats' video that played Wednesday.
At the time, Trump touted the plan for the high-tech campus as "the eighth wonder of the world." A clip of Trump saying the phrase was also included in the DNC video.
Today, Microsoft is building a data center on land that Foxconn had been expected to use for a $10 billion LCD manufacturing plant, PolitiFact reported. Neither the investment nor the jobs fully came to fruition.
In May, President Joe Biden visited Wisconsin to highlight Microsoft's investment in its Mount Pleasant data center, touting it as a "comeback story." "Foxconn turned out to be just that," Biden said during that visit. "A con."
Remarks from Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson earlier in the night also focused on infrastructure, including lead pipe removal and urban projects like bike lanes and green spaces.
"Infrastructure is just a fancy word for jobs. Not just union workers, but for everyone. Small businesses are booming, communities are starting to thrive again," the ironworker narrator said.
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