On a case by case basis. In some cases the equipment was cheap enough to move, but in some cases it wasn’t so it was just scrapped or left to rot if it was too big to be cost effective to move.
Disagree with putting the blame on the workers for not retraining, though. Their entire way of life was destroyed in favor of financialization. Imagine being ten years away from retirement and the career you spent years learning and planned your life around is just gone, and there’s nothing similar left. Of course you would hate the politicians who actively participated in making this happen.
Voting Trump in a temper tantrum hardly makes them victims. They had plenty of time to retrain, and the 21st century in America is not going to be turning a wrench, it’s living high on the value chain creating intellectual works. If they want to work in a factory they can move to Asia. As their saying goes: America, love it or leave it.
