Trump’s heinous record on workers was front and center in his speech at a non-union plant
LANSING – Last night, Trump tried to waltz into a non-union plant and tell enough lies that voters would forget his heinous record on workers here in Michigan – but Trump has let down Michiganders too many times before. Trump can’t hide the fact that for his entire presidency, he ignored autoworkers and shipped jobs overseas, all while lining the pockets of billionaires and big corporations.
For the last several days, Michigan Democrats have been out in full force to hold Trump accountable for parachuting into our state and spewing lie after lie – all while ignoring the autoworkers who are righteously standing day in and day out on the strike line, fighting for the wages, benefits, and job protections that they deserve.
Trump doesn’t care about workers or our middle class and he will sell out Michigan’s economy every chance he gets – and Michigan Democrats are here to make that clear.
Here’s a quick roundup of the extensive coverage of Michigan Democrats slamming Trump’s visit:
MSNBC: Tomorrow: Biden to Visit Auto Workers Picket Line in MI
MSNBC: Biden and Trump Vie for Union Workers Support
WILX: More auto workers may go on strike as UAW, Big Three continue negotiations
WILX: Trump visited Michigan to deliver speech at auto parts supplier
Morning in America (NewsNation): UAW to Expand Strike Friday as Talks Stall
ABC News: Skipping the Republican debate, Trump talks UAW strike at non-union plant
- “I’m a car girl and the state of Michigan put the world on wheels,” she said, later adding, “Electric vehicles are one of the technologies of the future. We are going to build them here. I’m not ceding our leadership to anybody.”
- Dingell said: “He says these negotiations don’t matter? These negotiations are the most important negotiations I’ve watched in my lifetime.
- If he really did have strong support by union workers and he wanted to tell them how much he cared and how he cared about those benefits that unions fight for, then why didn’t he go to a union shop?”
HuffPo: Trump In Michigan: Union Negotiations ‘Don’t Mean As Much As You Think’
- “I think if he was trying to appeal to labor voters, he wouldn’t go to a non-union supplier. Start there,” 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
POLITICO: Tonight’s biggest split screen wasn’t actually about Trump vs. his GOP rivals
- Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), called Trump’s claims about the unions in Michigan “smoke and mirrors.”
- “We have to remember that Trump blamed auto workers when things didn’t go his way. He is one who puts sand in the wheel, he gums up the gears. And if it weren’t for House Democrats, we would have never renegotiated NAFTA and put in fair labor standards and practices that advantage and bolster the American union auto worker.”
- Stevens said “it is very clear that the Republican Party in Michigan is beleaguered and belligerent.”
The Messenger: Trump Wooed UAW Workers with Big Promises in 2016. Here’s What Actually Happened
- “Before Trump was actually president, he was saying a lot of things that sounded really great,” said Michigan state Rep. Jason Morgan, a Democrat who represents a liberal district that includes part of Ann Arbor. “But when he actually got into office, he did the same old thing he has done throughout his career, which is be completely full of crap and none of his policies have actually benefited the people he told they would benefit.”
- Wade, who didn’t vote for Trump in either 2016 or 2020, said the goal of the strike is to “create a new, middle-income American economy, to bring it back to us.” Trump, he said, “is just swaying more attention to him than to the workers and what we are out here fighting for,” noting reports and local UAW statements that Drake Enterprises, the location for Trump’s speech on Wednesday, is a non-union facility.
Yahoo! News: 3 Questions for Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell about the UAW strike, Trump and working-class voters:
- This is a man who is all words, no action. He is not going to fight for union workers.
- I want them to know that somebody cares about them. And when they see Joe Biden like they did yesterday, they know that he really does stand with them.
Detroit News: Donald Trump: UAW negotiations ‘don’t mean as much as you think’
- But Democrats blasted Trump’s record on manufacturing. U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, said while Trump had claimed to support to support union workers, he didn’t even go to a union facility.
- During Trump’s four-year term, the number of jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing in Michigan fell by 5% to about 166,000, according to the bureau’s tracking
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