Biden lauds Microsoft center where Trump Foxconn project failed
wis. — President biden on wednesday laced into Donald trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot.
that location in the battleground state will now be the site of a new data center from microsoft, whose president credited the biden administration’s economic policies for paving the way for the new investments.
For biden, it offered another point of contrast between him and trump, who had promised a $10 billion investment by the taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn that never came.
“in fact, he came here with your senator, Ron Johnson, literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world. You kidding me?” biden told the crowd of about 300 people, who clapped and cheered loudly as he spoke. “look what happened. they dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it.”
noting that 100 homes were destroyed to make way for the project, which wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, biden added a jab: “Foxconn turned out to be just that — a con. go figure.”
biden was in Sturtevant, in Racine County, to promote the $3.3 billion microsoft data center, which the Democratic president said will employ about 2,300 union construction workers to build it and then 2,000 permanent employees to staff it.
microsoft’s president brad Smith said in an interview with the associated Press that microsoft had a “steadfast commitment to under-promising and over-delivering” and praised the biden administration and the state’s Democratic governor, tony evers, for economic policies that set the stage for the developments announced wednesday.
but biden was eager to take the credit and use the opportunity to repeatedly take swings at trump, arguing that his presumptive Republican challenger embraced the same type of “trickle-down economics” that biden abhors and failed to revive domestic manufacturing during his four years in the white House.
“Folks, during the previous administration, my predecessor made promises, which he broke more than kept, left a lot of people behind in communities like Racine,” biden said. “on my watch, we make promises, and we keep promises.”
As for trump, he was back in Florida on his day off from his new York criminal trial on wednesday, meeting at his mara-lago club with people who, as part of a promotion, bought digital trading card NFTS, or non-fungible tokens, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss it. the “MugShot edition” NFTs featured images of trump as a cowboy, with lightning coming out of his hands, walking by the US Capitol, and taking the place of lincoln at the lincoln memorial.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
School leaders tell Congress they’re fighting antisemitism
WASHINGTON — leaders of three large public school systems strongly denied allegations that they let antisemitism run rampant in their schools, telling a congressional panel wednesday that they are fighting it with education and, when necessary, discipline.
as part of a series of hearings on antisemitism, a House education and workforce subcommittee sought testimony from leaders of the new York City Public Schools, the berkeley Unified School District in California, and the montgomery County Public Schools in maryland.
“let me be clear — we do not shy away from imposing consequences for hateful behavior, including antisemitism,” said karla Silvestre, the board president of the suburban maryland school system.
the first of the antisemitism hearings to focus on k-12 education comes amid a wave of pro-Palestinian student protests that have washed across dozens of US universities and a growing number of high schools.
the committee’s hearings have been heated, with the first one in December precipitating the resignations of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. most recently, the testimony of Columbia University’s president, minouche Shafik, escalated into weeks of protests that spread well beyond her campus.
in an opening statement, Representative aaron bean, a Florida Republican, said antisemitism has become a “dominant force” in america’s schools, with students as young as second-graders “spewing nazi propaganda.”
“You’ve been accused of doing nothing and turning a blind eye,” he said.
Chancellor David banks from new York questioned whether the panel’s actions had brought schools any closer to addressing antisemitism on campuses.
“this convening, for too many people across america in education, feels like the ultimate ‘gotcha’ moment,” he said. “it doesn’t sound like people who are actually trying to solve for something that i believe we should be doing everything we can to solve for.”
banks cited actions his district has taken, including student suspensions and employee terminations. but he also emphasized the role of education, saying the district is building a new curriculum on the contributions of the Jewish community, along with separate lessons about hate crimes and bias.
“we cannot simply discipline our way out of this problem,” banks said. “the true antidote to ignorance and bias is to teach.”
Silvestre described a similar approach in montgomery County. Classrooms have more lessons on the Jewish experience, and the district will now require “hate-based training” for all staff, she said. teachers who don’t provide a safe learning environment “will not remain in montgomery County public schools,” she said.
Representative Suzanne bonamici, an oregon Democrat, criticized Republicans for their focus on antisemitism in liberal school districts while ignoring statements by Donald trump. in the latest example of the former president’s use of the language of nazi germany in his campaign rhetoric, trump told Republican donors at his Florida resort last weekend that President biden is running a “gestapo administration.” ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republicans won’t commit to accept ’24 election results
top Republicans, led by former president Donald trump, are refusing to commit to accepting november’s election results with six months until voters head to the polls, raising concerns that the country could see a repeat of the violent aftermath of trump’s loss four years ago.
the question has become something of a litmus test, particularly among the long list of possible running mates for trump, whose relationship with his first vice president, mike Pence, ruptured because Pence resisted trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election.
in a vivid recent example, Senator tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, was pressed at least six times in a tv interview Sunday on whether he would acthis november’s results. He repeatedly declined to do so, only saying he was looking forward to trump being president again.
He continued to evade the question even as the interviewer, NBC news’s kristen welker, reminded him that a “hallmark of our democracy is that both candidates agree to a peaceful transfer of power.”
“this is why so many americans believe that NBC is an extension of the Democrat Party at the end of the day,” Scott said at one point. “i believe that President trump will be our next president. it’s that simple.”
the refusal to commit to accept election results is “deeply concerning,” said Steven levitsky, a government professor at Harvard University who studies democracy around the world. “accepting the results of elections is in effect the cardinal rule of democracy. it is the first rule of democratic politics. if a major party is not willing to accept defeat in elections, democracy cannot be stable.”
trump’s push to overturn the 2020 election — and his conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — is now at the center of two of the four criminal cases that he faces as he undertakes a comeback campaign.
trump has continued to claim that the 2020 election was rigged and that he won states that he did not win, such as wisconsin.
trump also has suggested he may not accept the results of the next election, including in an interview with the milwaukee Journal Sentinel that was published last week.
“if everything’s honest, i’ll gladly accept the results. i don’t change on that,” trump told the newspaper. “if it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”
Furthermore, in recent interviews with time magazine, trump did not rule out the possibility of political violence if he loses again. while he said he did not think there would be violence, he added that it “always depends on the fairness of the election.”