Trump visits Boeing, vows to ‘never disappoint’
President Trump returned Friday to the themes that secured his electoral victory, praising the contributions of American workers and pledging to lead a resurgence of manufacturing across the country.
Speaking at a Boeing plant in North Charleston, S.C., with a 787 Dreamliner parked behind him, Trump said he had come to celebrate “jobs, jobs, jobs.”
“My focus has been all about jobs, and jobs is one of the primary reasons I’m standing here today as your president,” Trump said. “I will never ever disappoint you, believe me, I will not disappoint you.”
A day after a sharply negative and often hostile news conference at the White House, Trump adopted a far more optimistic tone in South Carolina, a state he resoundingly won during the presidential primaries and in the general election.
He spoke of expanding the reach of the American dream and unleashing the “American spirit”; there was little reference to the “carnage” he discussed in his inaugural address less than a month ago or the “mess” he repeatedly cited in Thursday’s news conference.
“That’s what we do in America — we dream things and then we build them,” he said, adding: “Working together … there is nothing we cannot accomplish, no task too large, no dream too great, no goal beyond our reach.”
Much as he did in the campaign, Trump ticked off his recipe for expanding manufacturing: penalties for those taking jobs out of the country, fewer regulations, lower taxes on businesses and a fight against what he called “extreme cheating” by other countries.
“Since November, jobs have already begun to surge,” he said, taking some credit for gains made during President Obama’s term that Trump said derived from his own election win. “We will see more and more of that across the country.”
Trump did not mention the decision by workers at the plant on Wednesday to turn aside an organizing effort by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
The South Carolina operation has more than 7,500 employees and contributes to more than 100,000 jobs in the state, Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. The facility at which Trump spoke makes, assembles and installs parts of the Boeing 787’s fuselage.
The visit to the Boeing facility kicked off a weekend for Trump that will mix work and campaigning, with a rally scheduled for Saturday in Melbourne, Fla.
White House officials said Friday that Trump may meet with new candidates for the role of national security advisor at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
Trump fired his first pick, retired Gen. Mike Flynn, after it became publicly known that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence about details of a phone call made to the Russian ambassador to the U.S. in December. His second selection, retired Vice Adm. Bob Harward, turned down the job this week.