Trump Tries to Gaslight People Into Thinking He's Pro-Union

Donald Trump claimed he came to Michigan to show solidarity with striking autoworkers. Instead, he fear-mongered about the transition to electric vehicles and told autoworkers they would be out of a job in two or three years even if they secured a contract with wage increases.  Trump’s visit came on the heels of Biden’s stop to walk a picket line at a General Motors parts plant in Wayne County, Michigan, the home base of the nation’s auto industry.

Trump's remarks undercut his message of wanting to stand in solidarity with striking autoworkers, casting their fight against the leadership of the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — as ultimately inconsequential in the broader push for more carbon-neutral vehicles, which require fewer people to assemble.

Trump’s claims of wanting to show solidarity with rank-and-file laborers was undermined by the fact that he chose to appear at a non-union parts supplier, Drake Enterprises.  Trump’s audience was supposedly composed of “around 500 former or current union members.” But the number appeared to be closer to 300-- and as the crowd gathered, NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard estimated that only 20% of the people in the audience were UAW members, and only a small number of those were currently on strike. Trump, notably, also did not visit the UAW picket line during the union’s 2019 strike against General Motors, nor did he say much about that strike back then.

When asked this week if he wanted to meet with Trump, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told CNN, “I see no point in meeting with him, because I don't think the man has any bit of care for what our workers care for, for what the working class stands for. He serves the billionaire class and that's what's wrong with this country.”

“I think if he was trying to appeal to labor voters, he wouldn’t go to a non-union supplier,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).   “[Trump] keeps trying to use electric vehicles as a wedge issue — well, I’m going to push right back at him and tell him I want my domestic auto industry to be competitive in the global marketplace,” Dingell told HuffPost. “Electric vehicles are the future. This is where the rubber is hitting the road.”