- We are here at Donald Trump's rally,
as you can see, here in Murphysboro, Illinois.
And we're with a delegation of workers-
- President Donald Trump!
- From all-
- The only president that has done anything for our country!
[Crowd Shouts]
- President Trump!
- We're at a rally here in Murphysboro, Illinois.
Obviously, some people don't want the stories
of what's happening to real world
Americans to be told
and we want to make sure
the real story of what's happening to
hardworking Americans is told.
Donald Trump's traveling the country
saying that jobs are pouring back.
He's saying, "The economy is booming."
That, "Wages are going up."
But the living reality of workers is very different.
These are workers who work at Harley Davidson.
They work at Honeywell.
They work at GM.
Yet they have lost their jobs.
- Donald Trump is the only person
that is stopping the offshoring.
- Oh, really?
Hey, can I interview you?
- Yeah, you sure can.
- Dena, come over! This is great. Okay.
So, would you mind...
You can put the sign down so we can see your face.
- No, I'm not puttin' the sign down.
- You want to cover your face?
- Yeah, I do. I want Donald Trump's face on the front.
- Well, that's not really an interview then.
But we'd love to have a conversation with you.
- You can interview me. I'm a coal miner.
- I'm sorry, you said Donald Trump's stopping offshoring.
- He is.
- Okay. So, how do you know that?
- How do I know that?
How do I not know that?
What's he brought back to our country?
- Where did my job go?!
- Look at the stock market, ma'am!
The stock market is at record numbers!
- It's actually tanking.
- He's brought trillions back to America.
- So, let me tell you...
Let Dena.
Just in the spirit of Democratic dialogue.
So, Dena tell us a little bit about your story
and what you would like to share
with this gentleman about your experience, your life.
- Yeah. I worked at AT&T for 22 and a half years.
- What year were you laid off?
- No. Please let her talk.
- Let me finish.
The trainers were sent to the Philippines
to train people to do customer service.
30 days later the CEO of AT&T mobility
came and told us we no longer have jobs.
He closed the center.
They sold the building.
Even the trainers were surplussed.
The Philippines took our jobs.
So, don't tell me they were brought back!
- So, Dena after you lost your job,
how did you rebound?
And how much were you making?
- I was making $22.50 an hour.
I was sixty years old.
Never collected unemployment.
Then I had to collect unemployment
and I got a minimum wage job.
- Who was the President then, ma'am?
- That was starting in 2014 and I started-
- 2014 under Barack Obama!
- That's a good point.
That's a good point.
No, no. That's an excellent point, brother.
- And it's continued!
- But here's the problem, AT&T has
gotten 900 billion dollars in federal contracts
under the Trump Administration.
Over 7000 people this year alone laid off.
So, do you think our tax payer dollars
should go to companies like AT&T
that are shipping jobs overseas?
That's a simple question.
'Cause that's why we're here.
No American tax dollars for companies
that ship jobs overseas.
You can agree with that.
- AT&T isn't just overseas.
- No. But you agree-
- AT&T also employs hundreds of thousands of Americans.
- No, no. But I'm saying should our money
go to companies that offshore American jobs?
- It's been goin' on for how long?
- So, you don't believe that?
- The only person that is taking steps-
- You think-
- To bring the jobs back.
[Crowd Cheers]
- So, the President-
- You guys don't want to see it.
You just want to keep crying and hollering,
"Oh, it happened in 2014
and it wasn't under Donald Trump,
but it's all his fault!"
- But it's still happening!
- But seven thousand layoffs and the President
could stop it right now with a stroke of the pen.
He's signed 100 executive orders.
He signed 100 executive orders.
And you're right, Barack Obama
did not sign an executive order to stop offshoring
- Obama didn't do anything!
- Hey, please stop.
[Crowd Shouts]
But here's the thing, that's right,
President Obama did not, I'll give that to you,
but Donald Trump has yet to sign
an executive order to say no tax dollars
for companies that ship jobs.
Shouldn't he do that?
Are you guys with us?
I wanted Obama to do it!
He didn't!
- My job was saved, because of President Trump.
I'm a coal miner.
Thousands of my friends got laid off.
I was one of the last coal miners-
[Crowd Shouts]
- I can totally understand why you're mad,
if your company went to another country,
because of the cheap labor or whatever.
- We want everyone to have a job back.
I'm glad you got your job back
and we want to make sure people like
Tommy Wolikow gets his job back.
So, Tommy worked at the GM plant
in Lordstown, Ohio for a decade.
So do you want to tell us a little bit
about what happened at GM Lordstown?
When were you laid off?
- I was laid off the same day
President Trump got inaugurated.
General Motors is very, very important to me.
My dad retired 42 years out there
and I worked there nine years.
I met my fiance out there.
Well, the day that President Trump
was inaugurated was my last day of work.
I was thinking in my head,
"This is probably gonna just be a little lay off.
We're gonna be back."
Almost two years later, I'm still laid off work.
But the main thing is, I went
to a President Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio.
- You were a Trump supporter?
- Yes. Yes. I'm a Trump supporter.
President Trump said, "Don't sell your homes.
Jobs are gonna be rolling back in.
Steel mills are gonna be opened up that are closed."
And everything that he was saying,
I literally was like, "Yeah!"
I felt it.
I believed in it.
But guess what?
Two years later I've watched General Motors
close third shift down, second shift down.
Magna Seating closed third and second shift down.
I've watched Kmart close.
Sears close.
Toys"R"Us close.
All in my area. I've watched so much job loss.
And I'm here today not to fight with you guys,
to say, "Come on, President Trump!
We need your help.
We need your help in our community,
because our community is in shambles.
We have job loss.
We have the fourth highest unemployment rate
in the whole state of Ohio, Trumbull County.
We're here to ask for help."
- Tommy, you were laid off and your wife
also worked at GM, she was laid off.
So, what's it like?
What is she doing now and what's it like making ends meet?
- We both went from having great union jobs
to me, just graduated, and I got a diesel
technician degree and I got a CDL.
I went back to school.
I did what I knew I had to do.
- There's thousands of truck jobs available.
- Okay, but guess what?
- You don't have to leave Ohio-
- Hey, please be respectful!
- No, I don't want to leave Ohio,
because I have a daughter that's eleven years old
that I see every weekend.
Anytime I try to talk to her about...
Anytime I talk to my daughter about transferin'
she cries and she says she doesn't want me to leave.
I bet you guys can relate to that, right?
- We can, but you know what? I did it.
- I got two kids.
- Hey, Tommy, tell me what is it like?
- We went from being able to-
- What is your wife doing?
- She is working at Cracker Barrel making $4.15 an hour.
- And what was she making before?
- $20 an hour.
I was making 26.
- She's making how much?
- $4.15 plus tips an hour at Cracker Barrel.
She's a waitress.
And I got dozens of applications in.
I'm waiting for a phone call.
I've put the footwork in.
I went to school.
I got the degrees.
I put the applications in and I'm still waiting.
- What was the message you delivered to the Trump campaign?
- We let them know what was goin' on in our community.
We let them know that there's 3000 of us UAW auto workers.
Plus a trickle effect another seven to ten thousand
other people effected right now
and we believe that you guys have the power
to be able to do something, we're hoping.
You're the President of the United States.
We're hopin' that you can help our community.
- Have you gotten a response from the Trump
Administration or from Brad Parscale?
- Not yet, no we haven't.
- And that's why you're here,
is that not right?
- Yeah. We're here to say, "Hey, you told us
that you were gonna communicate
what we said to you to President Trump,
you talk to him on a daily basis,
and we haven't heard anything yet.
And we're waiting.
The email address that we gave you is still the same."
- I promise you this is a way for me to have a platform
to say, "Our community's in shambles and we need help."
- Trump is the one that's gonna help you.
- Why do you think I'm here?
- I'm very impressed that you're here.
- That's why I'm here.
- You know what? Taking the hat tells me
that I'm impressed that you are a man of your word.
- Yeah, I am. I am a man of my word.
- I am very impressed. Very impressed.
- Good hugs. Let's hug it out.
- That's cool man, that's very cool.
- So, we're here in Murphysboro, Illinois
having some amazing conversations with people
from all over the Midwest about the state of the economy.
We had a coal miner who said,
"Man, things are great for his family."
And we're so happy that that's true.
And then we had some other random protesters who...
didn't make a lot of sense,
but that being said, very healthy energetic debate.
Nothing violent.
It's actually constructive conversation
between the folks who are here,
who traveled to be here with Good Jobs Nation.
And the thousands of Trump supporters that are here.
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