ABINGDON, Va. (AP) – Donald Trump sat down with coal miners Wednesday and promised to put them back to work, seeking to strengthen his appeal in parts of the country hit hard by the natural gas boom and the shift away from dirtier fossil fuels.
A day after sparking a fresh and unwanted campaign controversy with comments about the Second Amendment, Trump appeared subdued – almost professorial, at times – during a pair of events in rural Virginia. Accusing Democrat Hillary Clinton of wanting to close coal mines, he quizzed a group of mining executives and foremen about whether government rules were choking their industry.
“You’ve been put in an impossible position, as far as mines are concerned,” Trump said, with little of the bombast his supporters have come to expect. In a nod to environmental concerns that Clinton has been voicing, Trump added: “We want clean water. We want clear air, obviously. We also want jobs.”
Trump’s intimate discussion with miners at an industrial garage near the Tennessee border was a rare departure from the massive rallies and speeches that have characterized his campaign. He returned to the rally setting shortly after in nearby Abingdon and lamented that coal workers don’t vote in larger numbers.
“You just don’t vote. I think it’s because you’ve been beaten so badly as an industry,” Trump said. But, he said, “you have absolutely nothing to lose.”