While the Biden administration has bungled the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike over the past few months, former President Trump is set to swoop in next week and meet with workers as a counter-programming option to the second Republican debate.
Biden, the self-proclaimed most “pro-union” president in history, has taken flack from his own side for sitting idle on the issue between automakers and striking workers.
For example, Paul Waldman, writing for MSNBC, needled Biden for dropping the ball:
With the United Auto Workers now striking against the Big Three automakers, it’s not nearly clear enough to the public just which side the two major political parties are on. President Biden, the self-proclaimed “most pro-union president in history,” has spoken in support of the workers but seems bizarrely reluctant to be seen as too supportive of the UAW and its demands.
Biden ought to be standing on the picket line with striking autoworkers, so even voters who only glance at the news know exactly which side he’s on. But he isn’t. And when this is over, far too many people may think Republicans — whose hatred of unions knows no bounds — are the ones standing up for workers.
To be clear, Biden has nothing in common with rank-and-file union members these days. Maybe he did a decade or two ago, but not now. Joe Biden has been in pursuit of various globalist policies that inevitably hurt workers of all stripes in all segments of the economy. Whether it’s his rampant inflationary economic policies, his desire to drive oil companies out of business, or his refusal to secure the southern border, nothing Biden has done can be construed as being on the side of workers.
This is where Biden’s failures have turned into Trump’s opportunity.
Next week, while the rest of the GOP field will be in California for the second debate on Wednesday, hosted by Fox Business, Trump will be visiting with striking auto workers in Detroit, according to the Associated Press:
Trump will bypass the second Republican presidential debate on Sept. 27 to instead visit striking autoworkers in Michigan, where he has looked to position himself as an ally of blue-collar workers by promising to raise wages and protect jobs if elected to a second term.
Trump campaign radio ad released Tuesday in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, praised auto workers and said the former president has “always had their back.”
The move by Trump caught the White House off guard and has some Democratic strategists worrying that Biden missed an easy layup and left the door open for Trump to drive straight to the basket, according to Politico:
Some Joe Biden allies fear that Donald Trump is outmaneuvering them on the auto workers’ strike with his decision to head to Detroit for a speech next week.
Democrats close to the White House said they saw Trump’s trip as a plainly cynical ploy to gain political advantage from the current United Auto Workers strike at three plants. But they also worry it is a sign that the ex-president had a more sophisticated campaign than in previous cycles — and that Biden’s operation needs to step it up.
A union adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to offer a blunt evaluation, said Trump “is still himself and will say and do crazy sh-t.” But, the person added, “he actually has people who know what they’re doing. He boxed Biden in. It was kinda genius.”
Joe Biden could get outmaneuvered by a snail with the way his political instincts operate these days. He’s been on the wrong side of every issue since taking the oath in January 2021.
Trump, on the other hand, spotted this opportunity as a chance to expand his support in union households heading into next year. While almost all national union leadership, at the UAW and elsewhere, lean hard left, most rank-and-file workers align more closely with Trump’s America First agenda.
Specific details on Trump’s debate night speech in Detroit are not yet known but follow the Trump event schedule for the latest updates as information becomes available.
