Biden in Milwaukee: 'We Invented Them When We Went to the Moon' and 'Your Significant Senator, Ron Johnson' (August 15, 2023)

President Joe Biden came to a Milwaukee factory to sell “Bidenomics,” and he threw in a history lesson on computer chips. “And, by the way, we — the United States — invented those semiconductors. We invented them when we went to the Moon. They’re those small computer chips, the size of the tip of your finger, affecting nearly everything in our lives, from cellphones to automobiles to the most sophisticated weapons systems in the world,” Biden said at Ingeteam Inc. on Aug. 15, 2023, according to the official White House transcript [1].

The chip came first. The Nobel Prize record says that “in 1959 Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce showed that many transistors, resistors, and capacitors could be grouped on a single board of semiconductor material.” [3] Apollo 11 did not land on the Moon until July 20, 1969, a decade later [4].

Just before that, he complained about research spending. “We’re the best engineers in the world. We’re the best scientists in the world. We’re the best researchers in the world. What the hell are we doing?” Biden said [1].

Biden repeated the point later in the speech. “The bottom line is: We invented chips here in America. We used to produce them here. We used to produce 40 percent. And now we’re bringing them back home, thankfully,” he said [1].

The video above shows Biden’s arrival and remarks in Milwaukee on Aug. 15, 2023. Quotes are from the official White House transcript and the White House pool reports [1][2].

”Your Significant Senator, Ron Johnson”

Biden went after Wisconsin’s Republican senator by name. “But you know who believes that? Your significant senator, Ron Johnson. He believes outsourcing manufacturing jobs is a great thing,” Biden said [1].

“Here’s what he said, quote, ‘Let the billions of people around the world do that.’ End of quote. You wonder why the hell we got ourselves in trouble,” Biden said, to laughter [1].

“I’d like to see Senator Johnson talk about those — to talk to those 136,000 people and tell them it doesn’t matter whether you manufacture things at home or overseas. It sure as hell does, man,” he said [1].

”I’ve Been Around About 200 Years”

Biden turned to his own résumé. “When I got to the Senate, I — I’ve been around about 200 years. (Laughter.) When I got to the Senate in 1973, Milwaukee was a manufacturing powerhouse. That’s how it was referred to. Not a joke. Not a joke,” he said [1].

The transcript needed a fix in the same stretch. Workers in Kenosha were “making a direct [decent] living for their families, generating economic growth for Kenosha, until the American Motors plant closed in ‘88,” Biden said. The bracketed word is the White House’s correction [1].

He also defended the union card. “You got to talk more about what you do and what it takes to get it done. People aren’t trying to be mean. They just don’t know. But I’m sure in hell telling them,” he said [1].

”Griswell [Criswell]”

Biden opened with the Maui wildfires and got the FEMA chief’s name wrong. “FEMA Administrator Griswell [Criswell] — who’s the best we ever had, I think — was on the ground this weekend. I just talked to her,” he said [1].

The White House corrected his supply numbers, too. Biden said FEMA had “approved [provided] five tho- — 50,000 meals; seventy-five liters — thousand liters of water,” and the official transcript also changes the number of beds he cited from 500 to 5,000 [1].

”$700 Per Household”

Biden described the aid. “FEMA also authorized one-time payments of $700 per household to folks who have been displaced so they can do the immediate things of just taking care of medications and prescriptions that they so badly need,” he said [1].

“My wife, Jill, and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can,” Biden said. “I don’t want to get in the way — I’ve been to too many disaster areas — but I want to go and make sure we got everything they need.” [1]

“$1 Trillion 700 Billion”

Biden made a big claim about the deficit. “I’m the first one to cut the federal debt [deficit] by $1 trillion 700 billion. (Applause.) One trillion seven hundred billion dollars cut because we generated the growth,” he said. The White House corrected “debt” to “deficit” [1].

The deficit was already climbing again. Treasury’s year-end figures show it at $1.375 trillion for fiscal 2022 and $1.695 trillion for fiscal 2023, the fiscal year in which Biden was speaking. It reached $1.833 trillion in fiscal 2024 [5].

No Questions

The trip started without a word to reporters. “POTUS did not stop to take any questions on the South Lawn as he boarded Marine One. He waved toward press and carried a piece of paper,” the in-town pool reported. At Joint Base Andrews, he “boarded at 10:57 without stopping to talk to reporters gathered under the wing.” [2]

In Milwaukee, he “walked over to a group of families gathered on the tarmac, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries for several minutes before the pool was ushered to our vehicle,” the travel pool wrote [2].

The stage was branded. Biden spoke in front of “a giant blue banner that reads: ‘Bidenomics | Investing in America,’” the pool reported. “About 20 minutes into the remarks, he grabbed a handheld microphone and stepped out from behind the podium to continue speaking.” [2]

“I Watched That Bridge Collapse”

Biden also told the crowd about a bridge he visited in Pittsburgh. “I watched that bridge collapse. I got there and saw it collapse with over 200 feet off the ground, going over a valley. And it collapsed,” he said [1].

He did not see it fall. The bridge came down the morning of Jan. 28, 2022, before Biden left Washington. “The President has been told of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh.” the White House said in a statement sent out by the pool at 9:21 a.m. that day [6].

Before Air Force One took off, the travel pooler wrote: “Also flagging that a bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed this morning.” Hours later, the pool reported: “Motorcade has arrived at the site of the collapsed bridge.” [6]

By the Numbers

45 minutes: the length of the speech, per the pool [2].
136,000+: Wisconsin manufacturing jobs Biden said were lost from 2000 to January 2021 [1].
1959: the year Kilby and Noyce showed how to build the integrated circuit [3].
1969: the year of the first Moon landing [4].
$1.695 trillion: the fiscal 2023 deficit [5].

What Happened Next

Biden went to Maui. He told the crowd he and the first lady would travel to Hawaii “as soon as we can,” the pool reported [2]. For that visit six days later, see HYGO News’ page on Aug. 21, 2023.