Times Leader: Pennsylvania mayors, union members underscore ‘threat’ of Trump’s Project 2025
Bill OBoyle, Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Several Democrats gathered for a Zoom conference on Wednesday, ahead of former president Donald Trump’s rally in Scranton.
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti and former Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney joined union leaders to underscore what they termed “threats” of Trump’s Project 2025 agenda for workers.
“Pennsylvanians know Donald Trump doesn’t look out for Pennsylvania workers — he only fights for himself,” a joint statement of the group said. “As president, Donald Trump raised costs for working families, undermined Pennsylvania unions and gave tax breaks to companies while creating new incentives that sent as many as 15,000 Pennsylvania jobs overseas.”
Cognetti said voters must focus on what the realities are.
“We have not forgotten his failed economic policies,” Cognetti said. “We know what it’s like when he is president — chaos. And now he is trying to undermine recovery efforts in Florida and other states. Donald Trump is always trying to divide us. He is a worsening version of himself — he drums up anger in people. He is far worse than he was in 2020. Pennsylvanians know who he is and they know Kamala Harris is the best choice for the country.”
The Zoom participants all agreed that Trump failed Pennsylvania workers, stating that he raised costs for working families and undermined Pennsylvania unions, while giving tax breaks to big corporations.
Cognetti said Kamala Harris is committed to workers getting high-paying jobs, to making sure their families have health care, that kids are taken care of, that people have the means to be able to get child care so they can go to work, so that seniors have the ability to have their prescriptions, so they don’t have to spend their golden years worrying about utility bills.
“That’s the type of economics that Kamala Harris will continue to deliver for us,” Cognetti said. “We know that’s not what we’re going to hear from Donald Trump today. We’ll hear his usual flood of lies.”
Former Philadelphia Mayor Kenney added, “A guy like Donald Trump never had a summer job. He never worked after school. He never struggled. He got handed an envelope full of money from his father to start a business. I can’t imagine having him in the White House again.Vote for Harris and Walz and, as Vice President Harris has said recently, ‘turn the page’ on this nightmare.”
Laborers’ Local 57 Union Member Billy Williams said he joined a union because it was one of the surest ways to pursue the American dream.
“You work hard, you get paid a decent wage, earn decent benefits, and you build a life for you and your family,” Williams said. “Vice President Kamala Harris is here to protect that sacred union way of life, where everyone has the opportunity to not just get by, but get ahead.”
Williams went on to say that Trump, on the other hand, will destroy the union way of life.
“Donald Trump put union busters in charge and rolled back critical protections for workers,” Williams said. “He gave CEOs tax cuts, while leaving Pennsylvania workers in the dust. Trump can tell as many lies as he wants, but he can’t hide who he is.”
IBEW 743 Union Member Bill Troutman said a lot of people say Trump is unpredictable.
“But I know exactly what we’re gonna get from him — everything but the truth,” Troutman said. “I remember his presidency clearly. I remember a president who tried to gut Social Security, not once, not twice, but every single year of his presidency. I remember a president who broke his promise to American workers, failed to bring back manufacturing jobs and shipped jobs overseas.”
Troutman said that is Trump’s legacy here in Pennsylvania.
“That’s why union members like me showed up in numbers to defeat him in 2020, and that is why we’re gonna show up to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in 2024,” Troutman said.
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