Skips second GOP debate to give speech at non-union Michigan auto parts shop
Trump skipped the second Republican presidential debate in California to deliver counter-programming in Detroit, one day after President Biden became the first sitting president to walk a union picket line with striking UAW workers. Trump spoke at a non-union auto parts supplier (Drake Enterprises), not with actual striking workers. He urged UAW members to endorse him while simultaneously claiming their strike 'doesn't matter' because electric vehicles would eliminate their jobs anyway—a message undercutting their leverage.
“You're all going to be out of a job... because all of those jobs are going to be gone.” — Remarks about EV shift eliminating auto jobs, Drake Enterprises, Michigan, Sept 27, 2023
Analysis Feed
AI commentaryTrump's choice of venue was telling: a non-union shop rather than the picket line where Biden went. His message to autoworkers was contradictory—urging them to endorse him while telling them their jobs were doomed by EVs regardless of the strike outcome. The UAW later endorsed Biden, seeing through Trump's labor-hostile record and his attacks on EV manufacturing jobs.