'Trump Lied to Wisconsin Workers': Sanders Targets President With Front-Page Ad Ahead of Weekend Rally

Sen. Bernie Sanders addresses protesters at a Fight for $15 rally in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

'Trump Lied to Wisconsin Workers': Sanders Targets President With Front-Page Ad Ahead of Weekend Rally

"Our message to President Trump as he visits Green Bay: you're not going to get away with your lies any longer. We'll defeat you and protect American jobs."

With Donald Trump set to hold a campaign rally in Wisconsin this weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders took out a front-page ad in a local newspaper to send the state's workers a simple message: The president's promises were hollow.

"Trump lied to Wisconsin workers," reads the ad, which will run Friday in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. The ad was financed by Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign.

"In a Bernie Sanders White House," the ad says, "we will end the corporate greed behind the Shopko closures, Kimberly-Clark layoffs, and Foxconn scam."

Trump--who narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin in 2016--promised during a post-election rally that jobs would "pour in" to the state under his economic agenda.

Since Trump's victory, Sanders said, he has failed to make good on his vow to protect Wisconsin workers and create decent-paying jobs.

As Common Dreams reported in January, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's deal with Taiwanese tech firm Foxconn--which Trump enthusiastically touted--turned out to be what critics called a "major con" after the company backed off its promise to create 13,000 manufacturing jobs in exchange for billions in taxpayer subsidies.

Shopko, a Wisconsin-based retail store Sanders cites in the ad, filed for bankruptcy in January and has since laid off over 1,700 workers.

"Donald Trump betrayed working people in Wisconsin," Sanders tweeted on Thursday.

Sanders won the Wisconsin Democratic primary by more than 13 percentage points in 2016, and the senator expressed his belief that--if he wins the 2020 Democratic nomination--he would defeat Trump in the state in the general.

"Our message to President Trump as he visits Green Bay: you're not going to get away with your lies any longer," said Sanders. "We'll defeat you and protect American jobs."

Join Us: News for people demanding a better world


Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place.

We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference.

Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today!

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.