A smart and strategic move by President Trump, the MAGA warrior of the middle and working-class.
On the night of the second GOPe ‘first loser’ debate, President Donald Trump will be in Detroit giving remarks to striking union workers, pipefitters and various trade workers.
The core of the MAGA coalition is the working and forgotten men and women who keep this nation functioning; a constituency that extends far beyond all races, colors, creeds and affiliations.
(New York Times) – Former President Donald J. Trump is planning to travel to Detroit on the day of the next Republican primary debate, according to two Trump advisers with knowledge of the plans, injecting himself into the labor dispute between striking autoworkers and the nation’s leading auto manufacturers.
The trip, which will include a prime-time speech before current and former union members, is the second consecutive primary debate that Mr. Trump is skipping to instead hold his own counterprogramming. He sat for an interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that posted online during the first G.O.P. presidential debate in August.
The decision to go to Michigan just days after the United Auto Workers went on strike shows the extent to which Mr. Trump wants to be seen as looking past his primary rivals — and the reality that both he and his political apparatus are already focused on the possibility of a rematch with President Biden.
So instead of attending the next G.O.P. debate — on Sept. 27 in California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum — Mr. Trump intends to speak to over 500 workers, with his campaign planning to fill the room with plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, as well as autoworkers, according to one of the Trump advisers familiar with the planning. Mr. Trump has not directly addressed the wage demands of striking workers and has attacked the union leadership, but he has tried to more broadly cast himself on the side of autoworkers. (read more)
As a businessman and Main Street builder, President Trump knows the value of labor and is well known for treating his employees and staff exceptionally well. As a builder in many metropolitan areas, for decades Donald Trump has maintained a good working relationship with labor unions and trade workers.
One of the distinctions that separated Donald Trump from the professional Republican field in 2016, was his support for organized labor and his belief that all deals and business enterprises should start with a common respect for the people who do the work. Many stories have been told about President Trump just listening to the people closest to the work to find optimal solutions for the organization; it has been a very effective style of leadership.
While the politics of labor leadership often align with the Democrat Party, sometimes against the wishes of the members, Donald Trump has a unique way of winning the hearts of the workers, while drawing a respectful distinction with union leadership. Quite simply, Trump knows the game and uses his own personal style to authentically connect to the workforce.
