With the news that its General Motors plant - which has been open since 1966 - would be shutting its doors, Lordstown, Ohio was devastated.
The General Motors factory employed at least 1,600 people. To put into perspective just how catastrophic the loss of the General Motors plant is for the town, Lordstown's population was only 3,200 people in 2017.
On a campaign stop in Ohio last year, President Donald Trump strongly vowed to bring jobs back to the region, saying:
"[The Jobs] are all coming back...We're going to fill those factories or rip them down and build new ones."
As well as:
"We never again will sacrifice Ohio jobs and those in other states to enrich other countries."
Trumbull County shifted a whopping 30 points toward then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016. Its support of the President was only bolstered by the president's wild promises in regards to jobs.
Now, many are calling out the contrast between the President's promises and what he delivered.
The news has some affected by the impending closure losing faith in the president.
In a recent Associated Press report, an employee for the plant - Bobbi Marsh - expressed immense disappointment in the president who promised jobs for Ohio.
Marsh said:
“I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen. It’s like we’re in a limbo now."
But though many blame Trump's performance as president for the closure, some still think the newly-unemployed Trump voters of 2016 will be just as devoted in 2020.
The retaliation to Trump's wide-ranging tariffs on China initially led many to predict as many as 715,000 auto industry jobs lost and a 2 million vehicle drop in sales. General Motors's announcement of the closure in Lordstown as well as multiple other plants seems to vindicate the predictions of months ago.
Only time will tell if Trump voters plan to stick with the President - failed promises and all - or if they'll finally believe his critics: that he's a conman who played on their American dreams.
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