Real estate mogul Donald Trump took a victory lap Sunday on Twitter, claiming that his fiery stump speeches convinced Ford Motor Company to move one of its plants from Mexico to the U.S.
But Ford burst that bubble in a statement Monday.
“Ford has not spoken with Mr. Trump, nor have we made any changes to our plans,” the company said, as quoted by Cleveland.com. “We decided to move the F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks to Ohio Assembly in 2011, long before any candidates announced their intention to run for U.S. president.”
Like many of Trump’s recent stumbles, this one originated with a retweet. The billionaire appeared to learn from Twitter user @ObfuscateClear that he successfully influenced the automaker:
“@ObfuscateClear: Wow, imagine what he’ll do as President. Thanks @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/mZzQhDjoIO” FORD LISTENED TO ME, GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2015
Word is that Ford Motor, because of my constant badgering at packed events, is going to cancel their deal to go to Mexico and stay in U.S.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2015
Do you think I will get credit for keeping Ford in U.S. Who cares, my supporters know the truth. Think what can be done as president!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2015
@ObfuscateClear tweeted a link to a blog post on a website, prntly.com, that describes itself as “a full service print company” that specializes in “products for politicians and business people.”
The blog post, titled “Trump successfully pressures Ford to move Mexican plant to Ohio,” in turn linked to a CNN Money article published in August. CNN Money reported that an Avon Lake, Ohio plant had begun manufacturing Ford F-650 and F-750 pick up trucks while noting that the company also planned to commit $2.5 billion to transmission plants in Mexico. The article mentioned that Trump has criticized U.S. manufacturers, including Ford, who shift work to Mexico but did not credit Trump with influencing Ford’s operations in Ohio.
Presidential rival and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), whom Cleveland.com credited with getting Ford the tax incentives that made it possible to invest in the Avon Lake plant, reacted to Trump’s boast on Twitter:
Nope.
Together OHIO brought Ford back from Mexico: https://t.co/wT81dJ8vcd https://t.co/WN4bpdTFiX
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) October 26, 2015
Jeeze, everything he tweets or says is a big ol’ fat stinking lie.
Drumpf today took credit for Emperor Hirohito making the decision to surrender to the Allies…
Thank you Mr. Trump, for making America Great Again and Again and AGAIN!
More fodder for his confederacy of dunces…
I hope none of this detracts from all the effort Trump put into moving the Eiffel Tower from Paris to Las Vegas.