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When Donald Trump first announced he was headed to Detroit during the United Auto Workers strike, it led to coverage that the former president would be making a pitch to UAW members as part of the Republican’s outreach to labor ahead of the 2024 race.
But that coverage wasn’t quite right. As MSNBC’s Ari Melber explained on Wednesday, once we look past the surface, Trump’s appearance “was more of a meeting with the bosses than the strikers.” NBC reported on the event held near Detroit:
Former President Donald Trump called for a “revival” of the economic nationalism that fueled his successful 2016 campaign in a visit here Wednesday aimed at distracting from the second Republican presidential primary debate. ... But hardly any striking workers were on hand.
Those who heard that the former president planned to address striking United Auto Workers heard wrong. The Republican didn’t go to an auto plant in Detroit; he went to a nonunion truck parts supplier in a nearby suburb.
The result created an extraordinary contrast — and a likely general election preview — that spoke volumes to the electorate. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden joined UAW workers and became the first sitting American president to walk a picket line. A day later, Trump appeared at an invitation-only event at a nonunion factory.
The former has a record of standing, literally and figuratively, with labor, while the latter has a troubled record and a string of broken promises.
General elections have been decided over less.
As for Trump’s remarks, at times it seemed he was willing to pretend that he was talking to striking workers. “Get your union leaders to endorse me, and I’ll take care of the rest,” he said, as if his audience was filled with union members.
In the same speech, Trump added, “I don’t think you’re picketing for the right thing,” which was (a) odd; and (b) a message intended for those who were actually picketing, who weren’t in his audience in any significant number.
A New York magazine report added, “He also claimed that electric motors on boats can’t work because they would electrocute boaters, which would be news to the outboard motor industry.”
The incumbent’s team was unimpressed.
“Donald Trump’s low-energy, incoherent ‘speech’ at a nonunion factory in Michigan was a pathetic, recycled attempt to feign support for working Americans,” Kevin Munoz, spokesperson for Biden-Harris 2024 said in a written statement. “Americans have seen him try this before and they aren’t buying it. They know who Donald Trump really is: a billionaire charlatan running on empty words, broken promises, and lost jobs.”