The facts
President Donald Trump announced on Monday what he called the largest steel plant in American history, to be built in Iowa by the foreign-owned steelmaker Mesabi Metallics. The plant, expected to cost about $15bn, aims to begin production in 2030. Trump stated in the Oval Office that the facility will use advanced steelmaking technology to produce high-quality, affordable steel, and will run on iron ore from the company’s mine in Minnesota. He credited his tariffs for encouraging such investments, suggesting companies build plants in the US to avoid paying taxes on imported goods. The Export-Import Bank, a federal agency, will provide up to $10bn in financing for the project. Mesabi Metallics is owned by the India-based Essar Group. Trump claimed the project is expected to create up to 6,000 construction jobs, nearly 2,000 manufacturing and mining jobs, and add $95bn to the US economy. He made the announcement flanked by Iowa’s top Republicans, including Ashley Hinson, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Joni Ernst. Trump suggested Hinson was doing well in the polls, though a Marist survey indicated she was trailing her Democratic opponent.
Our take
Donald Trump, the bloated fucking conman, stood in the Oval Office and announced the largest steel plant in American history - a $15bn Iowa ghost owned by India’s Essar Group that won’t even start pretending to make steel until 2030. He said his tariffs made it happen. That’s like claiming your dick made a baby while you’re watching another man fuck your wife with a $10bn loan from the U.S. government. The Export-Import Bank is the other man in this analogy, you stupid cunt. It’s providing up to $10bn in financing. So Trump’s big “America First” steel miracle is actually a foreign-owned money-suck getting a federal handy while he jerks off about tariffs that did precisely fuck-all to build it. The plant runs on iron ore from Minnesota, not patriotism, and the only thing getting forged here is a bullshit narrative for a failing Senate candidate. Speaking of failing, Trump trotted out Ashley Hinson, who’s running for Joni Ernst’s seat. He said she’s doing well in the polls. A Marist survey says she’s trailing. So the plant isn’t real, the jobs aren’t real, the economic impact isn’t real, and the political boost isn’t real. The only tangible thing is the $10bn of taxpayer money being funneled to an Indian conglomerate for a factory that might as well be built on the fucking moon for all the good it does anyone before 2030. The job numbers - 6,000 construction, 2,000 mining and manufacturing - are a fantasy written on a napkin soaked in Trump’s sweat. By the time this shithole might open, the construction workers will have died of old age and the manufacturing jobs will have been automated by a fucking Roomba. The $95bn economic impact is a number he pulled from the same cavernous asshole that produced his inauguration crowd estimates. This whole spectacle is a grift wrapped in a lie stuffed inside a photo op. A foreign company gets a massive U.S. loan, a loser candidate gets a pathetic boost, and Trump gets to pretend his tariffs accomplished something besides making everything more expensive. It’s a perfect monument to his presidency: a giant, empty, taxpayer-funded hole that won’t produce anything for years, if ever. The only steel involved is the balls it takes to announce this shit with a straight face.
