Former US President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the CWA (Concerned for America) Summit 2023 in Washington, DC on September 15, 2023.
Mandel Gunn | AFP | Getty Images
Instead of attending the Republican primary debate, former President Donald Trump plans to visit Detroit next week and speak with current and former union members, his campaign told CNBC on Monday.
This was announced by a campaign spokesperson. report The New York Times reports that Trump, the clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, intends to stage a second primary debate as rivals race to overtake him. Reported.
The former president’s travel plans emerged days after thousands of members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike at three major plants after the union and the Detroit automaker failed to reach an agreement.
Campaign officials noted that Trump wants to address more than 500 current and former union members, including not only autoworkers but also plumbers, plumbers, electricians and others.
But the autoworkers union itself reacted sharply to the news about President Trump’s latest campaign strategy.
“The full power of our union is focused on fighting an economy and billionaire class that enrich people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” UAW President Sean Fein said in a statement shared with CNBC. ‘
“There are billions of people who have no idea what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, struggle to survive, and don’t expect them to solve the problems of the working class,” Fein said in a statement. “We can’t keep electing millionaires and billionaires.”
Fein previously said Trump’s second term in the White House would be a “disaster.”
President Trump’s absence from the next debate, scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Reagan Library in California, was expected but not a big surprise. He was absent from the first preliminary debate last month, choosing instead to sit in on a prerecorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that aired as the debate began.
The plan to undermine the second debate means President Trump will once again ignore his Republican rivals and instead prepare for a general election rematch with incumbent President Joe Biden, a vocal defender of American labor unions. This shows support for the idea of arranging positions.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, President Trump accused the UAW leadership of failing its members, even as he urged the union to support him.
President Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker: “The autoworkers are being sold down the river by the leadership. The leadership should support Mr. Trump.”
President Trump’s public statements about the strikes have focused primarily on electric vehicles, a priority of the Biden administration that Trump says will destroy the U.S. auto industry and empower China.
The main demand of auto workers is to get more, but fair —As compensation, President Trump’s attempt to put EVs at the center of the debate shows how the push to transition away from gas-powered cars has become a politically wedged issue.
Trump’s biggest Republican rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, exercised the right of veto His state has bipartisan pro-EV legislation, and in a recent op-ed he vowed to “save America’s automobiles.”