MINNEAPOLIS _ President Donald Trump gave a rousing defense of his 2017 tax cuts Monday surrounded by political backers at a truck company chosen by the White House as the site of a special Tax Day roundtable.
"Today is Tax Day," Trump said to boos from a supportive crowd at Nuss Truck & Equipment in Burnsville, a Minneapolis suburb.
He then touted the GOP tax cuts, which he called the "largest in history" _ a claim some economists dispute.
"Over 80 percent of American families are now receiving benefits from the tax cut," Trump added.
Outside the company gates, opposing groups of supporters and protesters confronted each other, shouting insults and pushing their signs in front of each other. Police officers, including from local departments and the sheriff's office, surrounded the groups, which numbered several hundred people.
At the roundtable, Trump recited a number of GOP selling points for the tax cuts, which Democrats opposed for conferring most of the benefits on the wealthy and large corporations. Trump said a "typical family" earning $75,000 a year is saving more than $2,000 a year in federal taxes. He also touted the doubled child credit and said he eliminated the "unfair death tax."
He also mocked The New York Times. Referring to an article in what he called the "fake New York Times," Trump appeared to read from the newspaper. "Face it, you probably got a tax cut," he said, saying that it showed where the writer was "coming from."
"Nothing good comes from The New York Times," Trump added a few moments later to applause from the audience seated on folding chairs on the industrial shop floor.
Trump also talked up the U.S. economy, saying "blue-collar jobs" have grown at the fastest rate in 31 years.
He spoke about increasing steel production in Minnesota and replacing Obamacare if he is reelected. "We're not only going to save your private plans," he said "but we're going to give you something much better as an alternative," he said.
In previous remarks, Trump has said that a GOP health plan will likely not be introduced until after the 2020 elections.
"All socialism is a method of going into the Poor House," Trump continued. "We have the best economy we've ever had."
"These things don't happen by accident," Trump added, warning that they can be undone "if you elect the wrong people."
"Everything that we've done can be undone and bad, bad things," can follow, he said.
One of Trump's 2020 Democratic challengers, Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, announced hours earlier that she was releasing her 2018 tax returns, a move that came after releasing 12 years of tax returns _ every year since she has been a candidate for federal office _ earlier this month.
Klobuchar also called on Trump to mark Tax Day by releasing his own tax returns. "I believe in transparency and accountability _ that's why I've released my tax returns and why I'm calling on Donald Trump to finally release his tax returns and quit hiding from the American people," Klobuchar said.
Environmentalists also took aim at Trump's promise to ramp up steel production in northern Minnesota.
"Donald Trump is selling out Minnesota and the Boundary Waters Wilderness to a foreign mining corporation _ plain and simple," said Tom Landwehr, executive director of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. "Economic analysis from two Harvard economists show that mining near the Boundary Waters will destroy more jobs than it creates."
Trump landed at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport at 12:45 Central time Monday, before heading to Burnsville for what the White House said would be a roundtable discussion on tax cuts and the U.S. economy.
Trump did not immediately step out of Air Force One, according to reporters on the plane. Local dignitaries, including Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican U.S. Reps. Jim Hagedorn and Pete Stauber, walked up the stairs instead to greet the president shortly after 1 p.m.
Accompanying the president on the Tax Day jaunt were Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Minnesota U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, a Republican who represents a district north of the Twin Cities. Emmer also is the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the House Republicans. White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza also were on board Air Force One, according to the White House.
Along the highway to Burnsville, about 15 miles south of Minneapolis, reporters traveling with the president saw a few drivers in cars traveling the opposite direction extended a middle finger in greeting. Outside the front drive at Nuss Truck & Equipment a man gave two thumbs down while supporters nearby waved American flags and cheered.
A number of local groups mounted demonstrations around Trump's visit, including a Muslim civil rights organization protesting Trump's recent attacks on Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat whose district adjoins the 2nd Congressional District where Trump's roundtable took place. The 2nd District is represented by U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat who defeated Republican incumbent Jason Lewis in November.
Even before Air Force One landed, supporters and opponents lined the road headed into Nuss Trucking Company, with some of the president's supporters occasionally hurling insults at the protesters.
"Omar go home!" some Trump supporters yelled. "Whoever stands with Omar is a fool!"
Darla Flanders, a business owner from Eden Prairie, said she is concerned about Omar and the stances of some Democratic presidential candidates.
"I don't stand for what Omar has been stating in the news, and that is ... going against our president," Flanders said, hoisting a sign saying "Thank you, Mr. President."
On the other side of the road, Beatriz Winters, vice president of the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, said the Trump administration has unleashed hatred that she had never seen before.
"With this new administration, we are finding the rise of hate and discrimination, and I'm standing against it," Winters said. On Trump's comments about Omar, Winters was succinct: "Typical of him. A big bully."
Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the group that organized the rally against Trump's visit, said the president's recent tweet attacking Omar has incited violence against the Minneapolis congresswoman and put her life in danger. He and his organization are calling on Trump to take down the tweet and apologize to Omar.
Trump's message was "inciting that somehow [Omar] is insensitive to a horrible tragedy that happened in this country," he said. "That type of Islamophobic trope ... is a dangerous pattern for a president of the United States."
Rene Reynolds drove from Hammond, Wisconsin to rally for Trump. Wrapped in an American flag bearing his face and wearing a red "Keep America Great" hat, she stood in the front line waiting for the president.
Reynolds said she will vote for Trump again in 2020 and hopes he wins in Wisconsin for a second time. She still needs to convince some Democrat relatives of the same. "I have some sisters I need to sway, but I really think he's doing a good job," she said, adding that she feels he has improved the nation's economy.
Among the Minnesota participants in Trump's roundtable were Bob Nuss, president of Nuss Truck & Equipment; Megan Brockway, the company's human resources manager; Chris Bonvino, owner of Gemini Athletic Wear in Minneapolis; and Ross Cooney, listed as an employee at Gemini Athletic Wear.
Monday is the day tax filings for 2018 are due to the federal government.
