Clinton Township, USA – While his Republican competitors engaged in a heated debate in California during their second primary clash, Donald Trump strategically positioned himself in the pivotal state of Michigan, courting the blue-collar demographic by unleashing a fervent critique of President Joe Biden and his fervor for electric vehicles amid an ongoing autoworkers’ strike.
“I shall vehemently oppose, under any conceivable circumstance, the demise of the American automobile industry,” declared Trump at Drake Enterprises, an independent, non-unionized supplier of automotive components in Clinton Township, located just half an hour from the heart of Detroit.
This high-stakes move by the Republican frontrunner comes hot on the heels of Biden’s historic decision to become the first sitting U.S. president to walk a picket line, standing in solidarity with the United Auto Workers in Detroit. These dueling appearances have the distinct air of an early skirmish heralding the 2024 general election, even though the primary voting season remains on the horizon.
Trump’s conspicuous absence from the debate stage aligns with his enduring supremacy within the GOP primary race, despite facing a slew of criminal indictments across four different states.
During his address, Trump aggressively portrayed Biden as a detractor of both the auto industry and its workforce, resorting to fervent rhetoric to assert that the industry was “under siege.” Trump contended that Biden’s enthusiastic endorsement of electric vehicles, a pivotal facet of his clean-energy agenda, would inexorably result in job losses. This resonates with some autoworkers who fear that the production of electric cars necessitates fewer laborers and that the factories manufacturing them may not be unionized.
“He’s relinquishing your interests to China, capitulating to environmental extremists and the far-left,” Trump vociferated before his audience, flanked by the backdrop of American flags and crates of automotive parts.
Trump also downplayed the ongoing strike, initiated by the UAW, which seeks increased wages, shorter workweeks, and guarantees that new electric vehicle positions will be unionized. While Trump expressed solidarity with the workers, he also cautioned that any agreement would be rendered moot if impending pollution regulations came into force.
“You’re all steadfastly on the picket lines, but it matters not what you attain because, within two years, you’ll all be out of business,” Trump proclaimed.
While Trump frequently portrays himself as a champion of the working class, he has repeatedly clashed with union leadership and sought to sow discord between union members and their leaders. In a recent campaign video, Trump urged autoworkers to forgo union dues, alleging that their leaders were pursuing self-serving deals.
Just hours before Trump’s visit, the UAW posted a video on its Facebook page condemning factory closures by Detroit’s automakers. The video included footage from 2017 in which Trump assured a crowd in northern Ohio that automotive jobs would return. Yet, two years later, General Motors shuttered a massive assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs.
Notably, Trump fervently implored the UAW to endorse him, even addressing UAW President Shawn Fain directly. Despite having previously supported Biden in 2020, the union leader stood by Biden’s side during the president’s visit on Tuesday, repeatedly criticizing Trump.
“I don’t believe he has the interests of the working class at heart. I think he prioritizes the billionaire class, corporate interests. I think he’s just pandering to people, telling them what they want to hear, and it’s lamentable,” Fain remarked this week.
In response to Trump’s speech, Biden’s reelection campaign characterized it as “a feeble, recycled attempt to feign support for working Americans.”
Drake Enterprises, the venue for Trump’s address, specializes in producing components for automotive and heavy-duty trucks, including gear shift levers for semi-trucks, according to its president, Nathan Stemple. Stemple expressed concern that a shift to electric vehicles would be detrimental to his business.
While Trump’s team had indicated that the audience would include hundreds of current and former UAW members, as well as members of plumbing and pipefitting unions, it also comprised numerous non-unionized workers who fervently support the former president. Some attendees claimed to have received invitations from individuals with business ties to Drake, while others asserted they had simply arrived at the factory on Wednesday afternoon and been granted entry.
Tony Duronio, a 64-year-old real estate broker and longtime Trump supporter residing in Clinton Township, revealed that he had received an invitation from a group known as “Autoworkers for Trump.” Duronio praised the economic climate during Trump’s presidency and echoed the former president’s skepticism regarding electric vehicles: “Nobody wants them,” he asserted. He also endorsed Trump’s decision to abstain from the debate, citing the former president’s frontrunner status and the perceived similarity among the other candidates in comparison to Biden.
“He’s the frontrunner. He doesn’t have any competition,” Duronio opined. “Look, if it ain’t him, I may stay home ’cause the rest are no different than Biden.”
In passing reference, Trump acknowledged the distant debate transpiring some 2,000 miles away at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, deriding his GOP rivals as mere “job candidates.”
“They’ll do anything,” he quipped. “Secretary of something. They even say VP, does anybody see any VP in the group? I don’t think so.”
Trump has endeavored to leverage the ongoing strike as a wedge between Biden and union workers, a constituency that significantly contributed to his unexpected victory in 2016. Trump was successful in winning over voters in traditionally Democratic strongholds such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania during that election, largely through his vociferous opposition to global trade agreements and his promise to resurrect declining manufacturing towns.
However, Biden reclaimed these states in 2020 by emphasizing his working-class origins and unwavering support for organized labor. He frequently touts himself as the “most pro-union president” in U.S. history, asserting that the investments his administration is making in green energy and electric vehicle manufacturing will safeguard the future of the industry on American soil.
Within the automotive industry, there exists a division over whether the shift to electric vehicles will result in job losses among union workers. Some industry leaders contend that electric vehicles, requiring fewer moving parts, will necessitate a workforce 30% to 40% smaller for assembly. However, others maintain that electric vehicles will demand a comparable labor force.
The Trump campaign has ardently defended his pro-worker record, but union leaders contend that his initial term was anything but worker-friendly. They cite unfavorable rulings from the nation’s top labor board and the U.S. Supreme Court, unfulfilled pledges of automotive jobs, and the closure of General Motors’ Ohio plant.
Along the picket line, workers hold varying perspectives. Adrian Mitchell, employed at the GM parts warehouse visited by Biden, believes that Biden would be more beneficial to the middle class than a second Trump term. Nonetheless, Mitchell acknowledges that workers harbor concerns that the transition to electric cars may result in job losses.
At Trump’s event, a different atmosphere prevailed, characterized by a sea of MAGA hats and pro-Trump signs.
“Let’s put it this way: There’s nothing I don’t like about Trump,” declared Johnny Pentowski, a retired truck driver and longtime
By AP
