CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Michigan on Wednesday to speak at an automotive supplier in Macomb County at a time when unionized autoworkers are on strike.
Trump, the current Republican presidential frontrunner for 2024, is expected to deliver remarks at the non-unionized Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township on Wednesday, Sept. 27 as he works to win over blue-collar workers in Michigan. The former president has been attempting to establish himself as pro-worker, though not pro-union, amid the United Auto Workers union’s national strike at Detroit’s Big Three automakers.
Trump’s visit comes one day after President Joe Biden, his successor, joined the UAW’s picket lines in Wayne County in support of the union’s efforts to obtain better wages and benefits as the auto industry comes “roaring back.” It was believed to be the first time in history a sitting U.S. president joined the picket lines of an active labor strike.
As Biden continues to establish himself as pro-labor and pro-union, Trump has been accusing Biden of trying to ruin the car industry through his push toward electric vehicles and clean energy policies. UAW leadership has shown concern over what a shift to EVs looks like for its membership, though it hasn’t condemned the shift altogether.
The former president has long sought to establish himself as a leader for the working class, and spent a significant amount of time in the Rust Belt during his 2016 campaign. Trump has been trying to capitalized on the UAW’s strike at General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis in hopes of driving a wedge between Biden and union workers -- a tactic that helped him win over some Democratic voters in 2016, though Biden won those voters back in 2020.
On Wednesday, Trump is expected to speak in front of hundreds of current and former UAW members, in addition to members of plumbers and pipefitters unions.
UAW President Shawn Fain has been critical of Trump, and previously said that a second Trump presidency would be a “disaster.” During Biden’s visit Tuesday, Fain appeared at the president’s side and essentially denounced Trump’s efforts to appear sympathetic to laborers.
“I don’t think he cares about working-class people. I think he cares about the billionaire class, he cares about the corporate interests. I think he’s just trying to pander to people and say what they want to hear, and it’s a shame,” Fain said Tuesday.
The union has not yet announced their endorsement for the 2024 presidential election, in which Biden is also running again.
Last week, a campaign spokesperson for Biden also argued that Trump doesn’t care about autoworkers, and would have let the Big Three go bankrupt from the 2008 financial crisis rather than bail them out.
“Donald Trump is going to Michigan next week to lie to Michigan workers and pretend he didn’t spend his entire failed presidency selling them out at every turn. Instead of standing with workers, Trump cut taxes for the super-wealthy while auto companies shuttered their doors and shipped American jobs overseas,” spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.
Trump will be skipping a second GOP debate Wednesday to instead visit Michigan. He was not present for the first debate, either.