President Donald Trump reminded energy production workers in Pennsylvania on Wednesday of everything he had done to boost the economy in their state.
The president appeared relieved to get out of Washington, DC, dismissing the impeachment investigation as just another “witch hunt.”
“I have witch hunts every week,” he said as the crowd laughed. “I say, ‘What’s the witch hunt this week?’”
Trump spoke about boosting energy jobs in the state at the Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh.
“By the way, you’ll never have another President like me, okay?” he said, as the audience applauded. “You’ll never have another president that’s going to do this, though.”
Trump explained his determination to reduce regulations and speed up construction permitting came from his experience as a builder.
“I understand what you go through,” he said. “I understand how you’re ruined, how you’re destroyed. I also understand how bad it is for our country.”
Trump said he moved quickly to eliminate barriers to energy development such as former President Barack Obama’s Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule, the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the United States rule, and the Paris Climate Change deal while working to open up drilling and development on foreign lands.
“I promised that, as President, I’d unleash American energy like never before, because our natural resources do not belong to government, they belong to the people of this country,” he said.
He pointed to states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that were booming with new energy jobs, revitalizing neighborhoods and communities.
“Our goal is to bring 100,000 energy jobs to Appalachia, and to rebuild this magnificent region,” he said. “And it is a magnificent region with magnificent people, which was forgotten for too long by the Democrats.”
Trump was energized by reports that showed the median household income up to $5,000 plus $2,000 worth of tax cuts for a total of $7,000.
He noted that it took eight years for Bush to push median household income $400 and Obama eight years to increase it by $975.
“When you’re up debating, how do you lose those debates?” he marveled.