Trump, at Wildwood rally, claims credit for New Jersey economy (updated)

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At a rally in Wildwood, U.S. President Donald Trump touted what he called a “historic” economic boom in the state, crediting it to the policies his administration has adopted since taking office three years ago.

His Tuesday comments could once again put Trump at odds with Gov. Phil Murphy, who has taken credit for those same numbers. New Jersey’s unemployment reached 3.5 percent in June 2019 and then fell to an all-time low of 3.1 percent in September.

“Together we are achieving historic victories for New Jersey families, you see every single day,” Trump said Tuesday evening at a rally held at the 7,000-person capacity Wildwood Convention Center that drew out thousands of attendees and many who waited outside, as well as a sizable crowd of anti-Trump protesters.

The question centers largely on whether – and to what extent – state economic progress can be chalked up to state-level policies, or as the product of national policies.

Trump was correct on New Jersey’s unemployment, and the most recent numbers are among the lowest they have been since the state began collecting such data in 1976. While the nationwide unemployment rate, likewise, has reached its lowest point since 1969, at 3.7 percent.

“More people are working today in the state of New Jersey than ever before,” the president added.

Trump also touted the federal opportunity zone economic incentives, a product of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Murphy has frequently said is the only thing he liked about the federal tax cuts.

Opportunity zones allow investors to shield capital gains income from federal taxation until 2026 by parking their money into one of the 8,700 such zones nationwide—169 of which are in New Jersey. With investments kept in the opportunity zones for a decade, the dollars earned from those projects would be entirely tax-exempt.

“Billions and billions of dollars, and not government dollars, they’re flowing into the opportunity zones where investment was dead,” Trump said.

Trump’s appearance in Wildwood was to support U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who just last month defected to the Republican Party after he was one of the few Democrats to vote against the president’s impeachment.

“I asked if he could come down to South Jersey and have a rally. Without even hesitating our president said yes, and he is here, a man who kept his word to ensure that the eye of the world is on South Jersey and all of us,” Van Drew told the crowd.

Trump jabbed at the “Green New Deal” promoted by the progressive wing of the nationwide Democratic Party, which includes presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders from Vermont. He said that the Green New Deal would force Americans “to close your factories, get rid of your cows.”

“You don’t have too many cows in Wildwood, but if you do, they’re gone,” he said.

He said, he said

Trump vowed to build a wall along the southern border between the United States and Mexico, slammed the “impeachment hoax,” and tore into New Jersey’s “sanctuary” policies regarding the handling of undocumented immigrants in police custody.

He then turned his attention on the “fake” news media, prompting the crowd to turn on the press corp with boos, middle fingers and other expletives.

In a statement released an hour and a half before the president’s appearance, Murphy tore into Trump, saying that he “has spent the past three years breaking promises and taking our country backward by embracing hate and division.”

“His failed record stands in stark contrast to what we’ve been able to accomplish here in New Jersey,” Murphy said. “[H]is presence is a reminder of how important it is that we continue working to make our economy deliver for the middle class, not just the wealthy and well-connected.”

The rally drew out the attendance of Republican stalwarts across the state: New Jersey Republican Party Chair Doug Steinhardt; former Republican Gov. Chris Christie; Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean Jr., D-21st District, and a potential candidate to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski in the seventh congressional district; and White House Aide Kellyanne Conway.

“The affordability crisis faced in New Jersey is forcing more and more families” out of the state, Steinhardt said. “Overtaxation and overregulation are taking their toll. We lead the nation in outmigration of jobs and people.”

His mere mention of Murphy, during his statements two hours before Trump appeared, drew out frequent boos from the crowd.

Speaking at an unrelated event Wednesday in Jersey City, Murphy accused Trump of “taking credit for things” which he did not “have anything to do with” during the event in Wildwood.

“[H]e’s actually made our challenges more difficult,” the governor said, maintaining that he had not seen the rally.

Murphy also decried the president for coming to South Jersey to “do a victory lap” when “there are so many middle class families hurting” as a result of his policies.

(Not so far) from the madding crowd

Outside, thousands of people lined up to make their way into the convention center, with some literally camping outside the building and tailgating since the weekend.

Trump contended that there were “tens of thousands of people waiting outside,” but most headcounts listed that number at just the thousands.

As the event drew near, hundreds of vendors began selling Trump merchandise of all shapes and sizes.

Eventually, Trump protesters descended on the rally chanting “lock him up!”

“Trump 2020” and “Make America Great Again” counter-protesters engaged in shouting and chanting matches with the opposition demonstrators, with each trying to drown the other side out.

Anti-Trump demonstrators also brought out several inflatable “baby Trump” blimps.

The blimps show the president wearing nothing but a diaper, and one Trump supporter was reportedly taken into police custody after attempting to pop one such balloon.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 2:24 p.m. EST on Jan. 29, 2020 to include comments from Gov. Phil Murphy.