Trump busted lying about Obama-backed auto industry recovery in last pitch to Michigan voters

On Monday, writing for CNN, fact-checker Daniel Dale tore apart President Donald Trump's lies about the auto industry, stated during his final push to try to hold onto Michigan.

Dale took aim at a tweet from Sunday in which Trump said the industry "was hemorrhaging car companies and jobs" before he took office.

"It's not true that Michigan was hemorrhaging auto jobs during Barack Obama's presidency," wrote Dale. "In fact, between Obama's first full month in office, February 2009, and Obama's last full month in office, December 2016, Michigan added 11,700 vehicle manufacturing jobs and 45,300 auto parts manufacturing jobs. The number of parts manufacturing jobs in the state rose steadily, gaining every year of the Obama presidency, while the number of vehicle manufacturing jobs grew consistently from 2009 through 2014, then leveled off in Obama's last two years."

Rescuing the U.S. auto industry was a top priority of the Obama administration when it took office in 2009; one study a few years later estimated the administration's financial relief program saved 1.5 million jobs.

Likewise, Dale broke down Trump's claim at a rally in Macomb County that "You didn't have any auto plants four years ago."

"This is obviously false," wrote Dale. "Michigan, which has made cars for more than a century, never stopped having auto plants under Obama. There were 13 car or truck assembly plants in Michigan in December 2016, the last full month of the Obama presidency, according to an Automotive News plant directory — and there were still 13 such plants in Michigan in October 2020, according to the publication's directory from last month."

Michigan has consistently polled as likely to flip back from Trump, who carried the state by less than one percent in 2016.