DIGGING A HOLE

Trump: Coal Miners Would Throw Up at Idea of Clean Tech Jobs

The president described a supposed conversation he had with miners and claims they were repulsed by the idea of being retrained.

Donald Trump claims that coal miners nearly vomited when he asked them if they would like to be retrained for tech jobs. The president made the remarks at a closed-door New York gathering with U.S. diplomats where he delivered a rambling speech mainly attacking Joe Biden and dismissing the whistleblower complaint against him. Praising himself for his policies that he said gave miners “back their jobs,” Trump recalled a supposed conversation he had with coal miners. He said he asked them whether they wanted to work in technology and “they almost threw up all over the place.” He said: “Can you imagine a miner with massive arms, shoulders, who love what they’re doing, in a line with little tiny widgets? They’re putting little tiny computer parts together. These big strong guys? They don’t want to be doing that.” Trump added: “If I said, ‘I’m going to give you an apartment on Fifth Avenue, you’re going to come with me, you’re going to have a great time in New York, they would say, ‘No, no thank you.’ That’s just the way it is. That’s their life, that’s what they want.”