The owner of a home remodeling business described the financial stress that the economy has put on Americans, including himself, in remarks Monday night at the Republican National Convention.
“During the Trump boom, we were thriving. Under Biden, we are surviving,” declared Benjamin Josephn told a convention hall audience in Milwaukee that included former President Donald Trump, who was officially nominated earlier.
Joseph, one of the “everyday Americans” being highlighted at the RNC, owns the business his father started in 1972—Joseph Home Improvement in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
Many of his clients are reducing the scope and amount of home remodeling projects because of inflation and the state of the economy, Joseph told convention delegates. Consequently, the slowdown has affected his family, he said.
“I’ve had to lower my margins—and I mean lower them,” Joseph said. “I’m now barely making payroll, and our family just has enough to live on.”
He noted that it’s heartbreaking for parents such as himself to have to tell their children when they ask for something: “We can’t afford it.”
“We didn’t have to say those words under Donald Trump when he was president,” said Joseph, who is also a Michigan delegate at the RNC. “That’s because Donald Trump is a businessman, not a crooked career politician.”
Trump knows what business owners require to succeed since he has owned and run businesses too, Joseph said.
“He knew that we could create millions of great jobs if given the chance, and we did,” Joseph said.
Trump’s tax and regulation cuts enabled American entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, he added.
“We need him back in the White House,” Joseph concluded. “With his leadership, and our help, we will make America affordable again, wealthy again, and great again.”
