Democrats Need to Tackle Trump Administration's Empty Promises on Infrastructure

One of the most unheralded deceptions that Donald Trump pulled off on American voters was his faux passion to rebuild the country’s infrastructure. Hillary Clinton had a plan for that, but she was no match for the real-estate developer’s bluster and bombast on roads, bridges, highways and “third-world” airports. Trump, who liked to proclaim that he alone could fix just about anything, promised to move America into a new golden age of infrastructure investment.

In Tuesday’s Democratic debate, the infrastructure crisis barely got passing mentions. The candidates who did talk about infrastructure and the economy failed to note the president’s lack of follow-through on this campaign promise. Overall, viewers were treated to a three-hour crabs-in-a-barrel intraparty offensive whose main target was Elizabeth Warren.

The Democrats need to jettison these tactics and tackle Trump failings like the infrastructure crisis head-on. But for the most part, candidates can’t answer questions that the moderators don’t ask. Neither CNN nor The New York Times saw fit to include an infrastructure question in the debate. The absence of a query on the climate crisis in the wake of the September climate strikes and Greta Thunberg’s prominence was another inexplicable oversight. A throwaway question about unusual friendships in this high-stakes venue insulted viewers’ intelligence.

Several candidates gamely tried to weave the issue into other remarks. Bernie Sanders lauded rebuilding infrastructure as a job creation tool to get 15 million people back to work; Julián Castro essentially agreed. Beto O’Rourke noted that Ohio is investing in infrastructure around General Motors plants. That was the extent of the infrastructure conversation.

Read more: https://prospect.org/power/democrats-need-to-tackle-trump-empty-promises-infrastructure/