While his Republican rivals cross swords on a stage in California for the second primary debate, former President Donald Trump will be in Michigan Wednesday night to court striking auto workers.
Mr Trump’s trip comes a day after President Joe Biden became the first sitting president in US history to take part in a picket line as he joined the workers’ union. automobile of Detroit. The United Auto Workers (UAW) is pushing for higher wages, shorter work weeks and assurances from the nation’s major automakers that new jobs in the electric vehicle sector will be unionized.
These appearances reflect what will likely be one of the key dynamics of the 2024 presidential election, which is increasingly looking like a rematch between Messrs. Trump and Biden. Michigan is expected to be a key state as both candidates attempt to portray themselves as champions of the working class.
Mr. Trump is expected to deliver a prime-time speech at Drake Enterprises, a nonunion auto parts supplier in Clinton Township, about a half-hour outside Detroit. He will speak before a crowd of several hundred current and former UAW members, as well as members of plumbers’ and pipefitters’ unions.
Mr. Trump tried to exploit the strike to drive a wedge between Mr. Biden and union workers, a group that helped pave the way for the ex-president’s surprise victory in 2016. In that election, Donald Trump won over voters in Democratic strongholds like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, fundamentally reshaping electoral alliances as he opposed global trade deals and promised to resurrect dying manufacturing cities.
But Mr. Biden won those states in 2020 by emphasizing his working-class roots and commitment to unions. He often calls himself the “most pro-union president” in U.S. history and says the investments his administration is making in green energy and electric vehicle manufacturing will secure the industry’s future for UNITED STATES.
Donald Trump, this time, seeks to take advantage of the discontent caused by the Biden administration’s management of the economy in a context of persistent inflation. He has repeatedly warned that Mr Biden’s embrace of electric vehicles – a key part of his clean energy agenda – would ultimately lead to job losses. Many auto workers worry that electric cars require fewer workers to manufacture and that there is no guarantee that the factories that produce them will be unionized.
“Joe Biden’s draconian and indefensible mandate on electric vehicles will destroy the American auto industry and cost the jobs of thousands of auto workers,” Donald Trump slammed in a statement after Joe Biden’s visit on Tuesday.
While Mr. Trump presents himself as pro-worker, he has repeatedly clashed with union leaders and attempted to drive a wedge between union members and their leaders. In a recent campaign video, he urged auto workers not to pay union dues and claimed their leaders had “made deals for themselves.”
UAW President Shawn Fain appeared alongside Joe Biden during his visit Tuesday and remained deeply critical of Donald Trump.
“I don’t think he cares about working class people. I think he cares about the billionaire class, he cares about corporate interests. I think he’s just trying to please people and say what they want to hear, and that’s a shame,” lamented Mr. Fain.