President Joe Biden used his Labor Day speech in Philadelphia on Monday to launch attacks on former President Donald Trump, his likely opponent in the 2024 election.
Speaking in front of the Sheet Metal Workers' Local 19 branch, Biden attacked Trump's record on jobs, pensions, and infrastructure but wouldn't mention the former president by name.
When discussing the steps his administration has taken to fix the nation's infrastructure, Biden said Trump "didn't build a damn thing" during his administration.
"Can you believe we used to have the best infrastructure in the world and then we fell to No. 13 in the world," he said, according to a transcript of his speech. "Roads, bridges, internet — the whole deal. Thirteen. The United States of America, 13th in the world.
"But guess what? Guess what? The great real-estate builder — the last guy here, he didn't build a damn thing. Under my predecessor, Infrastructure Week became a punchline."
Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign responded Monday to attacks by President Joe Biden during his Labor Day speech in which he criticized his predecessor's record on infrastructure and jobs.
"Crooked Joe Biden is the destroyer of American jobs and continues to fuel runaway inflation with reckless, big government spending," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in an email to Newsmax. "The only thing he's built is padding the bank accounts of the Biden Crime Family by selling out this country to foreign enemies for their own financial gain. Biden and his son Hunter sold access to the highest levels of government to the highest bidder, which posed a threat to our national security.
"By contrast, President Trump passed record-setting tax relief for the middle class, doubled the child tax credit, and slashed more job-killing regulations than any administration had ever done before. Real wages increased and median household income reached the highest level in the history of our country, while poverty reached a record low. President Trump produced a booming economic recovery, and record low unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and women."
Biden also mentioned how many jobs have been created during his administration and how many were lost during Trump's, although he did not mention that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate reached a 50-year low under Trump and many of the jobs lost were the result of government lockdowns during the pandemic. Also, most of the jobs created came when the lockdowns were lifted and millions returned to work.
"It wasn't that long ago we were losing jobs in this country," Biden said. "In fact, the guy who held this job before me was just one of two presidents in history — but there is an important point — one of two presidents in history that left office with fewer jobs in America than when he got elected office. By the way, do you know who the other one was? Herbert Hoover. Isn't that kind of coincidental?"
Hoover, a Republican, left office amid the Great Depression after losing the 1932 election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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