Former President Donald Trump received a friendly welcome from striking autoworkers Wednesday during a trip to Michigan. Trump’s remarks came following another visit to the United Auto Workers (UAW) by President Joe Biden and during the second official Republican debate in California.
Trump criticized Biden’s visit to Wayne County Tuesday, which lasted for less than 20 minutes. Trump called Biden’s visit one to “pose for photos at the picket line.”
Trump spoke to a large crowd of union and non-union employees at Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township, Michigan.
Trump said that “it’s his policies that send Michigan autoworkers to the unemployment line.” When the former president mentioned Biden, the crowd booed.
“He only came after I announced that I would be here. You know, he announced quite a bit later, spoke for a few seconds … and he had absolutely no idea what he was saying,” the former president said. “He didn’t know where he was.”
Trump has said that Biden’s policies would seriously harm the auto workers. This included a planned transition away from traditional gas and diesel vehicles toward electric ones.
“Hundreds of thousands of American jobs, your jobs, will be gone forever because Crooked Joe Biden is selling out,” Trump said.
.@realDonaldTrump greets union members at Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township Michigan. pic.twitter.com/5ggIOQ3nOc
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) September 28, 2023
“You can be loyal to American labor, or you can be loyal to the environmental lunatics, but you can’t really be loyal to both. It’s one or the other,” said Trump.
“You built this country, you love this country, and you are the ones who make this country run,” the former president told the workers.
The former president’s visit may also play a crucial role in Michigan in next year’s election. The state is closely divided, having voted for Trump narrowly in 2016, helping to secure his victory in that year’s election. Four years later, Biden narrowly carried the state.
Trump’s campaign is hoping that a stance supporting auto workers in the state could help energize blue-collar voters.
