DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Former President Donald Trump is set to stop in Michigan to meet with autoworkers on strike next week instead of participating in the second Republican presidential debate, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
Trump is scheduled to visit the battleground state on Sept. 27, as first reported by The New York Times, zeroing in on the 2024 election against President Joe Biden where he maintains a wide lead against his GOP rivals in primary polls.
Trump's visit next week is said to include a primetime speech to over 500 auto workers, a source close to former president's plans revealed to The Associated Press.
Trump has been speaking out in support of striking autoworkers, 13,000 of which took to the picket lines at GM Wentzville Assembly in Missouri (Local 2250) Stellantis' Toledo Assembly Complex (Local 12) in Ohio and Ford Michigan Assembly Plant, final assembly and paint only, (Local 900).
As the strike enters its fifth day, Trump has accused Biden of trying to destroy the car industry by expanding electric cars and other green energy policies.
Trump has positioned himself as a fighter for the “forgotten men and women” of the working class and spent much of his 2016 campaign campaigning in Rust Belt towns suffering from the shift away from mining and manufacturing.
Earlier this year, he visited East Palestine, Ohio, after a train derailment, a visit aides have considered a key moment in his campaign as he worked to recover from midterm losses, and as they tried to move his focus away from his 2020 loss.
UAW President Shawn Fain fired back on Tuesday morning to news of Trump's visit, stating:
“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. 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.”
The Sept. 27 trip comes at the same time that other GOP hopefuls will meet at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, for the cycle’s second primary debate.
Trump missed the first GOP debate last month in Milwaukee, opting instead for a pre-taped interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson which aired on X --formerly known as Twitter -- during the first hour of the debate.
Ammar Moussa, a Biden campaign spokesperson, said Monday after news of Trump's visit was made public: “Donald Trump is going to Michigan next week to lie to Michigan workers and pretend he didn’t spend his entire failed presidency selling them out at every turn. Instead of standing with workers, Trump cut taxes for the super-wealthy while auto companies shuttered their doors and shipped American jobs overseas.”
Moussa argued that Trump would have let auto companies go bankrupt during the financial crisis rather than bail them out, as President Barack Obama did in 2009.
When asked about the strike in an interview that aired Sunday, Trump told NBC News that “auto workers will not have any jobs" because "electric cars, automatically, are going to be made in China.”
“The auto workers are being sold down the river by their leadership, and their leadership should endorse Trump,” he added.
Trump is set to visit Michigan after the UAW and the Big Three resumed contract negotiations over the weekend. Fain said earlier that the talks were reasonably productive, but offered no additional details.
On Monday night, Fain issued an ultimatum to the Big Three automakers, stating significant progress must be made with GM, Ford and Stellantis by Friday, Sept. 22 at 12 p.m., or more auto workers will walk off the job.
While there is still no breakthrough on negotiations at this time, WWJ auto beat reporter Jeff Gilbert said the Detroit automakers are willing to keep talking and hopefully find a win-win solution.
Trump earlier this summer traveled to Michigan, where the Oakland County GOP honored him as its Man of the Decade.