Robert Vlaisavljevich, a lifelong Democrat and mayor of Eveleth, Minnesota, blasted “weak,” “scared,” and “sleepy” Joe Biden (D) for failing to stand up to “radicals like AOC,” instead allowing them to craft his environmental policy like the Green New Deal, which he described as a “job-killing disgrace dreamt up by people who don’t live in the real world.”
“My father and grandfather earned their livings mining the raw materials that made the steel that built America,” he said, stressing that the election is “make or break” for workers who are carrying on the legacy of men like them.
The Iron Range economy, he explained, is vulnerable to economic trends and foreign trade and needs a strong, stern voice in the nation’s capital. Workers long looked to Democrats to “fill that void” because they “actually thought they cared about our welfare.”
But, according to Vlaisavljevich, that is far from reality.
“Not anymore. The radical environmental movement has dragged the Democratic Party so far to the left, they can no longer claim to be advocates of the working man,” he said. ” This is hard for me to say because I am a lifelong Democrat.”
He criticized lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for allowing America to be ripped off by trading partners, particularly China, which “dumped steel into our markets and slapped tariffs on our products.”
“And what did so-called leaders like Joe Biden do?” he asked. “Nothing.”
The cost of the inaction was devasting — the loss of both hope and thousands of jobs, as well as a “generation of young people who had to leave the Iron Range to find a livelihood.” That changed when Trump came on the scene and promised to champion the American worker by standing up to China, he continued. Because of the fulfillment of Trump’s promises — slashing taxes, delivering American First trade deals, and rolling back regulations — the Iron Range is “roaring back to life.”
That could be lost, however, if Biden gets into office, Vlaisavljevich warned, blasting Biden’s decades-long political career and his decision to cower to the radical left.
“Joe has allowed radicals like AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] to craft his environment policies. Their so-called Green New Deal is a job-killing disgrace dreamt up by people who don’t live in the real world,” he said, calling Biden “too weak, too scared, and too sleepy to stand up to the radical left.”
“He has been doing nothing in Washington for 47 years. Why would year 48 be any different? President Trump won’t back down to anybody,” the mayor said, praising the president for delivering a strong economy and predicting that he will “do it again” for the country.
The Iron Range’s economic future and survival — and America’s — is at stake this election, but voters can count on Trump, Vlaisavljevich added.