While his Republican rivals sparred in California during their second primary debate on Wednesday night, Donald Trump worked to win blue-collar Michigan voters by vilifying President Joe Biden’s push for electric vehicles in the middle of an autoworkers strike.

“I won’t allow the American auto industry to die under any circumstance,” Trump said in Clinton Township at Drake Enterprises. The company is a non-unionized supplier of auto parts located about half an hour outside Detroit.

The Republican candidate’s visit came just a day after Biden, the first sitting U.S. president to ever walk a picket in history, joined United Auto Workers at a Detroit protest. Dueling appearances resembled the opening salvos of the general election in 2024, where Trump and Biden will be rematching each other, even though the primary elections won’t start until next year.

Trump’s decision not to participate in another debate is a result of his commanding lead over the GOP primaries, despite facing four criminal indictments across four states.

In his speech, Trump tried to portray Biden as hostile towards the auto industry and its workers. He used extreme rhetoric, claiming that the industry was being “assassinated.” This heightened the fears of autoworkers, who are concerned that the production of electric cars requires fewer workers and that factories producing them may not be unionized.

Trump, flanked with American flags, auto parts, and pallets, told his audience that he was selling them out to China.

Trump also downplayed his strike, as the UAW is pushing for higher wages and shorter workweeks. The UAW has also asked the top automakers in the US to guarantee that all new jobs in electric vehicles will be unionized. Trump stated that he supports the workers, and hopes they get a fair deal. However, he added that no deal will matter if pollution limits are implemented.

He said: “You all are on picket lines, and it makes no difference what you get. In two years, you will all be out of business.”

Trump may have portrayed himself as pro worker, but he has repeatedly clashed with union leaders and tried to turn members against them. Trump claimed in a recent video that autoworkers should not pay union dues, and that their leaders “had some deals for themselves.”

The UAW released a video just hours before Trump visited, protesting the factory closures of Detroit’s automakers. It included footage from 2017 in which Trump told a crowd in northern Ohio that auto jobs were coming back. General Motors shut down a massive assembly plant in Lordstown (Ohio) two years later. This resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs.

Trump urged the UAW president Shawn Fain to support him at various points.

Fain, who has been a vocal critic of Trump and Biden for years, appeared by Biden’s sides during his visit on Tuesday.

“I don’t think he is concerned about the working class.” I think that he is more concerned about the interests of the corporations and the billionaire class. Fain said that he was just pandering to the people, saying what they wanted to hear.

In a statement released by Biden’s campaign for reelection, the speech of Trump was described as “a pathetic and recycled attempt to pretend support for American workers.”

Nathan Stemple, the president of Drake Enterprises where Trump spoke, told reporters that Drake Enterprises makes automotive and heavy duty truck components including gear shift levers. He claimed that a switch to electric vehicles would be detrimental to his business.

The audience included non-union members who supported the former president. Trump’s aides claimed that the event would be attended by several hundred UAW members and ex-members as well as plumbers and pipefitters. Others said that they were invited by Drake’s business partners, while others claimed they simply showed up at the factory on Wednesday afternoon.

Tony Duronio (64), a 64-year-old real estate broker and longtime Trump fan who lives in Clinton Township said that he was invited by a group named Autoworkers for Trump. Duronio, 64, a longtime Trump supporter and real estate broker who lives in Clinton Township said he received an invitation from a group called Autoworkers for Trump.

He’s the leader. “He doesn’t face any competition,” said he. “Look, if he’s not there, I’ll probably stay at home, because the others aren’t any different from Biden.”

Trump briefly mentioned a debate taking place 2,000 miles from his home at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, referring to his GOP opponents as “job candidates.”

He said, “They will do anything.” “Secretary” of something. Does anyone see a VP? “I don’t believe so.”

The former president tried to use this strike to create a wedge between Biden, and the union workers who helped him win the 2016 election. Trump won the election in 2016 by winning over Democratic strongholds such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. He fundamentally changed voting alliances, raging against global trade agreements and vowing to revive dying manufacturing towns.

Biden won these states back in 2020, as he highlighted his roots in the working class and his commitment to organized labour. He calls himself “the most pro-union President” in U.S. History and says that the investments made by his administration in green energy, electric vehicle manufacturing and the automotive industry will ensure its future in the U.S.

The auto industry is divided on whether the switch to EVs would cost union jobs. According to some executives, because electric cars have fewer moving components, they will require 30% to 40% less workers to assemble. Others say EVs require similar labor.

The Trump campaign vigorously defended Trump’s record as pro worker, but union leaders claim his first term as president was not at all worker-friendly. They cite unfavorable decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court and the top labor board, along with unfulfilled promises about automotive jobs and closure of the Ohio GM factory.

Workers have been divided along the picket lines. Adrian Mitchell, a worker at the GM warehouse where Biden was, believes that Biden is better for the middle-class than a second Trump administration. Mitchell, however, said that workers worry about losing their jobs due to the shift to electric vehicles.

The scene was different at Trump’s rally, with MAGA hats aplenty and pro-Trump signs.

Johnny Pentowski was a former member of the Teamster union.