{"id":135358,"date":"2019-03-20T20:52:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T20:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/20\/trump-embraces-politics-of-defense-spending-in-battleground-ohio\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:53:02","slug":"trump-embraces-politics-of-defense-spending-in-battleground-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/03\/20\/trump-embraces-politics-of-defense-spending-in-battleground-ohio\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump embraces politics of defense spending in battleground Ohio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Looking ahead to a bitter 2020 presidential contest, President Donald Trump used a U.S. Army tank plant that\u2019s benefiting from increased defense spending to tout the country\u2019s economic gains under his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Wednesday toured and delivered remarks at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio, the nation\u2019s last remaining tank manufacturing facility. Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced a $714 million award<\/a> to General Dynamics to upgrade M1A1 Abrams tanks at the plant, which the White House says is leading to the hiring of hundreds of new workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing the tour, Trump told cheering workers: \u201cWell, you better love me. I kept this place open.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lima plant has added more than 150 workers since the last year of the Obama administration, with plans to hire 400 more over the next year and a half, according to the White House. The plant will directly employ more than 1,000 employees and support many more across the supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president, who\u2019s been markedly vocal about protecting America\u2019s defense industrial base and the jobs it creates, took that message to blue-collar Ohio, traditionally a swing state, which Trump won in the 2016 election by a margin of 8 points. Trump planned to hold a fundraiser later in the day in Canton, Ohio, as he steps up his re-election efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Trump took credit for keeping the Lima plant open, Congress increased funding for the Abrams and other military vehicles steadily since 2015. After years focused on counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for heavy armor in Europe resurfaced in U.S. Army talking points after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 and as the United States sends rotational armored brigade combat teams into Europe to deter further Russian aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump did not take the opportunity to make any points about Russian aggression or the deterrent effect of American heavy armor in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFour straight years, the number budgeted for tank upgrades was zero,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThat was under your great President Obama. Our military readiness declined and your workforce was slashed by 60 percent. But those days are over. We are rebuilding the American military, we are restoring American manufacturing and we are once again fighting for our great American workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wide-ranging speech included a detour to repeat his attacks against the late Sen. John McCain, nearly seven months after the Arizona Republican\u2019s death from brain cancer, over McCain\u2019s support of the U.S. wars in the Mideast, his vote against repealing the Obama-era healthcare law and his handling of a dossier linking Trump to the Russian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\t