The first time Donald J. Trump ran for president, he slapped on a miner's helmet and told coal workers they would be winning, winning, winning when he entered the White House. Now, as Mr. Trump campaigns for another chance at the presidency, he rarely mentions America's coal miners and has stopped making grand promises about their future.
Not a single coal miner went back to work or power plant saved during Trump's presidency, underscoring his failure to deliver on promises to revitalize the industry.
Politically, it probably doesn't pay for his campaign to make more broken promises. Two decades ago, coal produced about half of all the electricity in the United States. Today, it accounts for just 16 percent of American power generation.
The industry employed nearly 180,000 people at its peak in the 1980s, but now that figure is about 44,800, reflecting the significant decline in coal-related jobs.
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