‘My friends were lied to’: will coalminers stand by Trump as jobs disappear?

Art Sullivan is considered something of a political heretic by other coalminers in south-western Pennsylvania, where a wave of support for Donald Trump based upon his flamboyant promises of a resurgence in coal helped propel the Republican to the US presidency.

“Many of my coalminer friends voted for him,” said Sullivan, who has spent 54 years as a coalminer and, more latterly, consultant to a struggling industry. “They were deceived. Trump had no plan, no concept of how to resurrect the coal industry. My friends were lied to.”

Trump weakens Obama-era rules on toxic wastewater from coal plants

Read more

Sullivan’s friends may disagree with this assessment but the coal comeback promised by Trump in the 2016 election campaign has failed to materialize, with his first term studded with bankruptcies and closures of mines and coal-fired power plants.

There are now about 5,000 fewer miners than when Trump strode into the White House. The coronavirus pandemic has turbo-charged the decline – so far this year US coal production has collapsed by more than 25% compared with the same period in 2019.

It has been a bruising few years rather than the glorious new dawn promised when Trump donned a miner’s helmet, mimed digging coal and excoriated Barack Obama’s “war on coal” on the campaign trail four years ago. One of Trump’s first executive orders removed a ban on coalmining on federal land and dumped Obama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Come on, fellas,” said Trump at the order’s signing, where he was surrounded by beaming miners. “Basically, you know what this is? You know what it says, right? You’re going back to work.”

Such assurances were eagerly accepted by coalmining communities in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky who backed Trump and prepared for salvation. “When he came into office, it was like someone pulled their finger out of the dyke,” said Thomas McLoughlin, a former mine inspector who trains new miners. “I was flooded with new mining students. It was overwhelming.” McLoughlin said he would vote for the president again because Trump was the only candidate prepared to stand up for coal workers. “My business won’t go under if he’s re-elected,” he added.