Ahead of Donald Trump’s rally in New Jersey, a state that lost more than 170,000 jobs during his presidency, DNC spokesperson Addy Toevs released the following statement: 

“As President, Donald Trump attacked hardworking New Jersey families with baseless lies and economic sabotage to further his political vendettas. If Trump had any shame, he wouldn’t dare show his face in New Jersey again. Jersey families can’t wait for another chance to reject Trump’s extremism and reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris, who have created hundreds of thousands of new jobs and spurred an infrastructure boom that is making New Jersey an economic powerhouse.” 

As President, Trump used New Jersey’s economy as a political pawn, withholding vital infrastructure updates, affordable housing investments, and nutrition assistance programs.

The New York Times: “Trump’s Yanked Support for Hudson Tunnel Angers Those Who Saw a Done Deal”

“Mr. Trump has promised to spur ‘the biggest and boldest infrastructure investment in American history.’ So his opposition to an established project that is widely considered a solution to one of the nation’s most critical infrastructure needs has confounded even veterans of his own party. Some fear that Mr. Trump is jeopardizing commerce along the Eastern Seaboard simply to spite Senator Charles E. Schumer, the Democratic leader from New York.

New York Times: “The Obama administration agreed to cover half the project’s cost with New Jersey and New York paying the other half. But that agreement was scrapped after Mr. Obama left office last year.  President Trump has denied that any such agreement existed. Mr. Cuomo and other elected officials from the region have pleaded with Mr. Trump and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to reconsider.” 

North Jersey: “Trump infrastructure plan bumps Gateway tunnel to the back of the line”

“Trump’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget, also released Monday, cuts funding for Amtrak’s long-distance passenger trains and eliminates the very federal program through which the project was supposed to be funded.” 

AP: “The New York stop also gave Biden a chance to highlight his administration jumpstarting a project that languished during President Donald Trump’s time in office. The yearslong modernization of the Hudson project started in 2013 but stalled as Trump battled with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over funding for the project. ‘This is one of the biggest, the most consequential projects in the country,’ Biden said. ‘But we finally have the money, and we’re going to get it done. I promise we’re going to get it done.’”

NJ.com: “The budget would eliminate the annual community development block grants that go to urban areas for housing and economic development. New Jersey and the state’s counties, cities, and towns received a total of $88.2 million in 2019.”

NJ.com: “The president proposed cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, by $15.3 billion. New Jersey has 673,966 residents receiving food stamps, according to the Human Services Department.”

From attacking New Jersey’s economy to spreading bizarre, hateful lies, Donald Trump’s vendetta against Jersey families is personal. 

App: “Donald Trump hates New Jersey. Here’s proof.”

“With a Republican in the White House and the GOP controlling both the House and the Senate, it’s to be expected that Democratic-leaning states such as New Jersey and their taxpayers are going to feel some pain, said Carl Golden, a political analyst with the Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton College…

App: “A story from Bloomberg has this for a headline: ‘How Trump’s Hudson Tunnel Feud

Threatens the National Economy.’ It’s no exaggeration.

“[Trump] reportedly personally asked House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., […] to drop any federal money for the $30 billion project.

“Who suffers more than most? ‘In 2014, 14 percent of Manhattan’s workforce consisted of New Jersey residents, and 8 percent of all New Jersey workers commute to Manhattan,” the Bloomberg story says. ‘The total income earned in Manhattan by New Jersey commuters is at least $33 billion annually.’”

ABC News: “Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump defended comments he made Saturday saying he saw thousands of people in Jersey City, New Jersey cheering when the World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11, 2001.

“‘There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down — as those buildings came down. And that tells you something. It was well covered at the time, George. Now, I know they don’t like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.’” 

Washington Post: “Trump says that he saw this with his own eyes on television and that it was well covered. But an extensive examination of news clips from that period turns up nothing. […] As the Newark Star-Ledger put it in an article on Sept. 18, 2001, ‘rumors of rooftop celebrations of the attack by Muslims here proved unfounded.’”

In sharp contrast, President Biden has been on the side of New Jersey families from Day One – cutting costs, creating jobs, and investing in infrastructure and manufacturing. 

Treasury Department: The American Rescue Plan sent economic impact payments totaling over $9.6 billion to people in New Jersey. More than 4.1 million people in the state received payments of up to $1,400. 

National Conference of State Legislatures: The American Rescue Plan distributed $6.245 billion to New Jersey. 

White House: “In New Jersey, [2021]’s historic Child Tax Credit is estimated to benefit 1,066,000 families with 1,721,000 children. Thanks to the ARP, the vast majority of families in New Jersey will receive $3,000 per child ages 6-17 years old and $3,600 per child under 6 as a result of the increased 2021 Child Tax Credit.” 

CNET: “Federal aid provided by the Inflation Reduction Act is about to replace a $300 million annual subsidy for New Jersey’s three nuclear power plants—and cut New Jerseyans’ power bills.  Since 2019, ratepayers from the Garden State have been coughing up $78 per year for a surcharge to subsidize the state’s three biggest nuclear power plants. Funding provided by the federal Inflation Reduction Act, called production tax credits, will replace the current subsidies paid by consumers. The production tax credits don’t go into effect until June 2025, however, and ratepayers will still see this surcharge on their bills until then.”