Reps. Debbie Dingell and Haley Stevens make it clear that Trump is not welcome in the state as he plans political stunt in Detroit
LANSING — Yesterday, Michigan Dems held a press call where Representatives Debbie Dingell and Haley Stevens condemned Donald Trump for his thinly-veiled attempt to make Michiganders forget his horrible track record of selling out workers in the state.
Trump can’t hide the fact that for his entire presidency he ignored autoworkers and shipped jobs overseas, all while lining the pockets of the billionaires and big corporations.
Reps Dingell and Stevens highlighted the importance of this moment for workers and the power of unions – and how it is not about scoring cheap political points. As the most pro-worker president in history, President Biden has created hundreds of thousands of quality jobs and built a better, fairer economy.
Here’s a quick roundup of the extensive coverage on our press call slamming Trump’s upcoming visit:
WXMI: UAW Strike and Trump Wooing Union Workers
WZZM: UAW President, Michigan Dems Condemn Trump Visit
WZZM: UAW President, MI Dems Condemn Trump Visit
The Messenger: Michigan Reps Dingell, Stevens Say Trump Is Not Welcome in Detroit
- Michigan Reps. Debbie Dingell and Haley Stevens sent Donald Trump a very clear message while speaking to reporters on Tuesday: He is not welcome in Michigan.
- “Trump is going to come to Michigan and skip the Republican debate. It its very clear exactly what it is, which is the former president exploiting the hard working men and women who are the backbone of the American economy,” Dingell said. “And he’s doing it to disguise his true anti-worker sentiment in his record.”
AP: United Auto Workers threaten to expand targeted strike if there is no substantive progress by Friday
- Fain had discounted the need for help from Washington, saying “This battle is not about the president,” and some Democrats opposed the White House involvement.
- “I do not believe that the president himself should intervene as he did in the railroad strike in these talks. He should not be at that table,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, whose congressional district includes part of southeast Michigan.
USA Today: What Biden’s unwavering support for autoworkers in UAW strike says about the 2024 election
- “While President Trump’s going to come in and try to erase his history with Michigan workers next week, I think that Michiganders are going to know what the record was and will reject his anti-worker agenda,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, a Biden ally.
- “Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” Fain said in a statement Tuesday. “We can’t keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don’t have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class.”
Michigan Advance: UAW president, Biden push back against reported Trump visit with striking Michigan workers
- On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Haley Stevens (D-Waterford) joined Michigan Democrats for a press call slamming GOP former president Donald Trump’s “anti-worker record following reporting” of his planned visit to Michigan next week.
- Both speakers highlighted how Trump’s “MAGAnomics” [Make America Great Agenda] agenda “hurt autoworkers, incentivized companies to ship jobs overseas, and lined the pockets of billionaires and big corporations at the expense of Michigan’s middle class.”
- The call also spotlighted the “stark contrast” between Trump and President Joe Biden —”who has a proven record of being the most pro-union president in history and a demonstrated history of standing up for workers,” according to a press release issued by the Michigan Democratic Party.
Bridge Michigan: Fain pushes back as Trump plans Michigan trip to court UAW
- U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Waterford, both Democrats who have been advocates for Michigan’s UAW workers and the auto companies, spoke to the media on Tuesday, criticizing Trump’s planned visit.
- “This contract is the most important that we’re going to see in my lifetime,” Dingell said, adding that she does not think Biden should intervene, either. “This industry is at a crossroads. We don’t need someone putting kerosene on the fire. I think presidential politics needs to be out of this totally, in all ways.”
The Hill: Trump seeks to put himself at center of auto strike
- Shawn Fain, the head of the UAW, has also been sharply critical of Trump, saying in a statement Tuesday that “every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers.”
- “[Biden] doesn’t belong at the table. We know he supports the workers. We know his administration supports the workers,” Dingell said. “We know that Donald Trump wants to build electric vehicles in China.”
- Dingell said. “We will make sure that we remind people — and we all have that responsibility — to remind people of his track record.”
Spectrum News: UAW president, Michigan Democrats: Trump isn’t welcome on picket line
- “Donald Trump is parachuting in and trying to get a cheap political hit or photo-op and quite frankly, he’s doing the timing exactly for what he wants to distract from his own disastrous record on labor and what else is going on in the world,” Dingell said. “Michiganders remember Donald Trump’s record, and they know what it really looks like. The truth is that he was one of the most anti-worker presidents this country ever had.”
- “I don’t think that this is the president’s deal to negotiate. It is not our deal to negotiate,” she said of Biden, before adding of Trump: “I think turning this into a supposed campaign rally is inappropriate and I don’t want to speak for anyone but myself, but it’s just not welcome in Michigan.”
On X – formerly Twitter- Dems continued to highlight Trump’s hypocrisy:
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