Hillary Clinton promised to put coal miners out of work
| Hillary Clinton promised to put coal miners out of work | |
|---|---|
| MISLEADING | |
| "Hillary Clinton said her goal was to put coal miners and coal companies out of business." | |
| Domain | Climate, Energy & Environment |
| Tactic | False Context |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2016 |
| Origin | A clip from a CNN town hall in Columbus, Ohio, on March 13, 2016, used in ads and on social media |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Climate, Energy & Environment | |
At a CNN town hall in March 2016, Hillary Clinton said: "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." The clip spread widely and was used in ads across coal country.
In context, she was describing the decline of coal as a result of the shift to cleaner energy and arguing that miners should not be left behind.
What the evidence shows
- The full sentence. She continued: "And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations." She was promoting a $30 billion plan for coal communities.
- Her own regret. In May 2016 she said she "misspoke" and that she meant coal jobs would continue to disappear without help for workers.
- Market trends. Coal employment had been falling for decades, mainly because of automation and competition from cheaper natural gas.
Why it matters
The quote is real and was a political error. Presenting it without the next sentence turned a description of a trend and a plan for affected workers into a stated goal of harming them.
Sources
- CNN, Democratic town hall transcript, March 13, 2016.
- PolitiFact, "In context: Hillary Clinton's comments about coal jobs," 2016.
- US Energy Information Administration, coal employment data.