Trump, however, began his speech with a respectful acknowledgement of Black History month. He also said, “Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.”
Trump quickly segued to addressing the economic concerns of the American people, starting with America watching its “middle class shrink as we have exported our jobs and wealth to foreign countries.” In 2015, the Pew Research Center released the information that President Trump is citing, specifically stating that middle-income Americans (i.e. those between two-thirds of the median income and double the median) gradually declined 11% over the span of 44 years from 1971 to 2015. There has also been a steady, sharper decline in manufacturing jobs, which Trump referenced.
Most manufacturing jobs have not necessarily been exported so much as replaced by automation. America’s manufacturing output is at an all-time high in terms of production, but due to technological progress, manufacturers are producing more with fewer human beings, relying on machines and computers according to Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times. Regardless, the end result is the same, and as Trump points out, the middle class is smaller than it was four decades ago.
