Southern Wisconsin Times

During last night’s debate, and over the course of the summer, we have heard Joe Biden repeatedly accuse President Donald Trump of sinking the economy and stating he—the former vice president who oversaw the slowest economic growth since the Great Depression of all people—is the right person to rebuild America.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. 

 Biden’s debate performance was littered with lies and fear mongering. He attempted to score cheap political points off the global pandemic by mischaracterizing the president’s response. Instead of offering a message of unity, Biden made the political calculation to spread fear and to disparage President Trump during the pandemic.

Before China released the coronavirus onto the world, the American economy was soaring to historic heights, seemingly breaking a new record every month. By the end of 2019, more than seven million jobs had been added to the economy under the president’s leadership. The unemployment rate was at its lowest in a half century. Minorities, including African Americans and Hispanic Americans, were seeing record low unemployment rates. 

This only happened because unlike the Obama-Biden administration, President Trump made the federal government work for the American people. The Trump administration eliminated seven regulations for every new one added. The president signed the historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that saved the average family of four a whopping $2,000, and he lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent – much lower than the original 35 percent. Because of the president’s pro-growth policies, the economy was booming like never before. 

Earlier this year, President Trump was given a choice when the coronavirus hit our shores – either temporarily shut down the economy or risk the lives of millions of Americans. President Trump understandably chose to save lives. He chose to temporarily shut down the economy because he believed a price could not be put on any American life. 

However, despite this setback, the economy is quickly rebounding back. From May until August, 10.6 million jobs were added back to the economy. This is the fastest economic recovery in our nation’s history, and it only happened because President Trump’s pro-growth policies prepared us for this moment. But he hasn’t rested on his laurels either.  

The president signed the CARES Act into law and created the Paycheck Protection Program, which is responsible for saving more than 51 million jobs. President Trump has also paused many visas for foreign workers and has paused new immigrant visas until the end of the year so that Americans are considered first and foremost as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Meanwhile, after the Great Recession, the Obama-Biden administration led the slowest economic recovery since World War II. Rather than allow businesses to thrive, the previous administration smothered them with rules and regulations. In fact, the last year of that administration in 2016 saw Joe Biden and President Obama push as many regulations as they could through before President Trump took office. 

And when it came to our relationships with foreign allies and adversaries, the Obama-Biden administration showed no regard for the American workforce. Under the leadership of Joe Biden and President Obama, our jobs were outsourced overseas, and there was no effort to stop the bleeding. If the previous administration accomplished anything, it was that they made the bleeding worse. 

We can see this in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that the Obama-Biden administration agreed to that would have drained nearly 450,000 jobs from the economy had President Trump now withdrawn us from the agreement. And the Obama-Biden administration had eight years to renegotiate the disastrous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) but chose to do nothing. Why would they? Joe Biden voted for NAFTA in 1993 – a vote that cost America 850,000 good-paying jobs.  

Thankfully, President Trump stepped in where the Obama-Biden administration failed and negotiated the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace NAFTA. The USMCA is expected to add 176,000 jobs back to the American economy, once again proving that Donald J. Trump is without a doubt the jobs president that we need right now. 

When comparing the accomplishments of President Trump with the mediocrity and outright failure of the Obama-Biden administration, the choice for Americans this election season is as clear as day. President Trump has accomplished more in the last three and a half years for Americans than the Obama-Biden administration did in eight years and definitely more than Joe Biden has in his 47 years in Washington. The facts speak for themselves. President Trump created the greatest economy in American history, and the numbers show that he is doing it again. 

When we vote in this upcoming election, I ask everyone to remember this. There is no comparison between the records of President Trump and Joe Biden. This president has spent his entire career creating jobs in one way or another. Joe Biden has spent his nearly five decades in politics accomplishing nothing but shipping our jobs to our foreign competitors. For the sake of the American workforce, we must re-elect President Trump this November. 

– A Walworth native and Big Foot High School graduate, Tyler August currently serves as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Wisconsin State Assembly. He represents Assembly District 32, including Lake Geneva, Genoa City, Delavan, Williams Bay, East Troy and parts of Elkhorn.