TOLEDO, Ohio – Republican President Donald Trump told a crowd of thousands Thursday in Toledo that Ohio had its best year ever economically, even as the state lost jobs in 2019.

During a winding 90-minute speech in front of a packed crowd at the Huntington Center, Trump was fast and loose with much of the truth about the economy in the Buckeye State. He was also much more combative in defending his decision to order the drone strike that killed an Iranian general.

The president’s first rally of the year was a clear look at how he plans to handle the 2020 election.

The Ohio economy

The president said auto manufacturers and mining jobs were coming back to the state in droves, even using the same verbiage as a speech in Youngstown just before the Lordstown General Motors assembly plant closed shop, costing the area thousands of jobs.

“And just in case you didn’t know it, Ohio just had the best year economically in the history of your state,” Trump said. “That’s not bad. That’s not bad. And this year is going to be even better. Maybe much better.”

Last year was somewhat up-and-down, depending on how one breaks down the economic numbers. Calling it the best certainly seems like a hard sell, particularly for the manufacturing and mining sectors that Trump boasted about growing during his Thursday rally.

The unemployment rate dropped to 4% in June, the lowest since June 2001, but started rising in August to finish November at 4.2%.

The state also lost jobs from January to November last year, the first time that has happened since 2009. Yet, nationally during this same time, jobs were up 1.1%. For years, Ohio consistently has lagged the nation in jobs growth.

Trump’s claims about manufacturing, specifically the auto industry, seemed even bolder.

“We brought a lot of car companies into Ohio,” he said. “You know that, a lot of them coming in. A lot of them have already been brought in. They’re coming in from Japan. They’re coming from all over the world. … They’re all coming back.”

Trump’s claims might be déjà vu to some in the Mahoning Valley, and also stretched the truth.

In 2017, Trump hosted a rally in Youngstown where he infamously told the crowd to not sell their houses because factory jobs would be returning to the area. In fact, he used the exact same quote, telling the crowd, “They’re all coming back.”

The state shed manufacturing jobs over 2019, driven largely by the closure of the Lordstown General Motors facility in March. More than 1,400 jobs were eliminated overnight, though some workers relocated to other facilities across the country.

Lordstown was a political thorn in Trump’s side for much of 2018. He lashed out at the head of the Lordstown auto workers union and blamed the union for the plant’s closure.

Lordstown Motors Corp., an electric car startup, announced it was purchasing the factory from GM with plans to make an electric truck there, promising 400 jobs, though questions remain about the viability of the company. GM announced it would build a battery factory in Lordstown, promising 1,100 jobs. Groundbreaking is expected sometime in 2020.

“The president has no idea what he is talking about,” said Youngstown-area Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat who ran for president last year. “While Lordstown Motors coming to our community is a silver lining, we are still reeling after the GM Lordstown closure. Our people need help. Not polarization.”

Trump also made the claim that the coal mining industry had rebounded in Ohio.

“We are putting our miners back to work,” Trump said bluntly.

The state shed mining jobs from January to November of last year. Ohio-based Murray Energy, one of the largest coal-mining companies in the country, also declared bankruptcy, though the company did not expect any layoffs.

The Trump campaign did not respond to an inquiry about which metric Trump was using when he made the claims about the Ohio economy having its strongest year ever.

Conceivably, Trump could have meant the gross domestic product of Ohio, which increased by $30 billion from 2017 to 2018, the most recent publicly available figures. That is the highest total dating back to 1997, but is not the highest increase in GDP even within the last 10 years.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said Trump outright lied to Ohioans.

"Tonight Donald Trump came to Ohio -- where a little over two years ago he said that jobs were 'all coming back' -- and straight-up lied about our state's economic situation,” Pepper said. “The jobs aren't all coming back. Ohio lost more than 4,000 jobs since January 2019, and the laid-off workers of GM Lordstown certainly don't think it was the best year in the history of the state. Ohio's soybean farmers don't think so either. It was the worst in a decade."

Iran

Trump also suggested he should have unilateral authority on military strikes. He said it wasn’t necessary for him to inform Congress of planned military action, particularly his decision to order the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

He added that Democrats in Congress would leak military activities to the press.

“But we have Bernie (Sanders) and Nancy Pelosi and them all saying, ‘How dare you take him out that way,” Trump said. “You should get permission from Congress. You should come in and tell us what you want to do. You should come in and tell us so we can call up the fake news that’s back there and leak it.’”

Trump made the comments one day after addressing the nation in a much more somber tone after the drone strike that killed Soleimani, and the retaliatory missile attack that Iran launched against U.S. forces at Iraqi military bases.

His comments also came as the U.S. House of Representatives was voting on a resolution – mostly along party lines –.to limit Trump’s ability to take further action against Iran without authorization from Congress.

Both Democrats – and some Republicans – in Congress demanded the Trump administration brief them on the Soleimani strike after it happened.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who introduced the president, also dusted off a throwback to the 2016 election during the Iran portions of their speech. Both likened the recent Iranian-backed attack on the American embassy in Baghdad to the 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Benghazi became a rallying cry for Trump and Republicans in 2016 against Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“You saw this was the anti-Benghazi,” Trump said. “We got there very quick. We got there very quick. This is the exact opposite. We did it the exact opposite of Benghazi where they got there so late. …. Right there, very early.”

Pence put it more succinctly.

“No more Benghazis,” Pence said.

Trump’s 2020 plan

It’s a safe bet that the public shouldn’t expect a more collegial presidential campaign from Trump in 2020.

Trump used much of his sometimes rambling speech to attack a slew of his detractors – either real or perceived.

He said the Oscars were suffering once actors started attacking him. He complained about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

And he made fun of Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, for literally having a small neck.

“He buys the smallest shirt collar you can get and it’s loose,” Trump said. “Now come on Adam.”

Still, the rally is a clear indication of what Trump and the campaign plan to focus on in 2020: pushing the mostly strong performance of the economy with security issues like the Middle East and immigration.

That proved to be a potent message for Trump in 2016, especially in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“The road through the White House comes through these states,” said Erin Perrine, deputy communications director for Trump campaign. “It means states like Ohio and Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The road to the White House is through those states and you will see President Trump out here regularly through 2020.”