Trump Goes Looking for the Union Label

The former president has planned a different kind of counterprogramming for the GOP debate.

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Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Pray Vote Stand Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on September 15, 2023, in Washington, D.C.(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Donald Trump is looking for a better way to skip the Republican debates.

After a strongly meh softball session with Tucker Carlson on Elon Musk’s X to counter-program last month’s GOP debate in Milwaukee, the former president is trying something more dramatic—and riskier—to skip next week’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Trump will follow in the footsteps of another California Republican, Richard Nixon, deploying a “blue collar strategy” by scheduling a visit to Detroit designed to show—maybe—solidarity with striking United Auto Workers members as the union expands its strike against the Big Three automakers, particularly General Motors.

As a stunt, this isn’t crazy—even after President Biden stole Trump’s thunder by announcing a visit set for the day before Trump’s. But it still comes with considerable baggage. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Kizedek

    I keep reading lately that Trump didn’t in fact speak to members of the UAW:

    “ Mainstream outlets have spent the last 24 hours repeating the falsehood that former President Donald Trump will address striking United Auto Workers in Michigan this evening, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Trump will actually be holding a rally at Drake Enterprises, a nonunion manufacturing plant in Macomb County, Michigan, his campaign announced the evening of September 25.”

    https://flip.it/1UVXX4

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    This comment has been deleted

  3. Avatar photo
    Mandy B.

    I want Trump to go looking for his epitaph.
    I'll write it.

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  4. James Morphew

    Stirewalt is on the money. Trump has good crowd-pleasing instincts, and the Union vote was a major difference for him in 2016, most especially here in the union-friendly, anti-woke Midwest. We can only hope it has little effect.

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  5. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    Well, I'm certainly pleased that Trump will be staying out of the Reagan Library. I mean, I wouldn't want the place to be struck by lightning.

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    1. Avatar photo
      JDW

      I thought the books might all burst into flames

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  6. Avatar photo
    Gibby

    don't assume that Trump can't square this circle.

    The one thing we know is that Trump is very good at getting voters to act in unpredictable ways.

    Be afraid

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    1. Avatar photo
      C C Writer

      But he does it by stoking their fear. People don't make good decisions when afraid. So if you don't mind, I'll take a pass on your suggestion to be afraid.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Gibby

        But the reason for my fear is not about him it’s about my fellow citizens not making good decisions. Which is exactly what I expect to happen.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Gibby

    In reference to the"Regan event"

    "I'm not looking for Rusty Regan"

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    1. Avatar photo
      Mandy B.

      "meaningless vanity / promotional candidacies" -- That's what Vivek is, and that's why he can don The Don so easily. Because he will throw the stinking robe off at a moment's notice.

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  9. Avatar photo
    BillAZ

    Here's the bottom-line on the election.

    Trump will be the Republican nominee coming out of the Republican primaries. Barring misfortune Biden will be the Democratic nominee. Once the Republican primary is over the vast majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents will vote for the nominee.

    If Democratic voters, moderates, Democratic-leaning voters and Trump-skeptical Republicans spend their time opining about Biden's age, Kamala, competence, economy, Hunter, Biden-isms, etc, in other words talk themselves out of either voting for Biden or voting third party or writing in a candidate or irrationally voting for Trump, then Trump wins the election.

    Almost everyone has already made up their mind but for those vacillating voters whatever political calculus, theology or metaphysics they are using to decide how to vote pretty much favors Trump because it presumes that Trump is a feasible choice; two impeachments and four indictments on 91 felony charges argue against that presumption.

    Proceed accordingly.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Ben Connelly

      “Trump will be the Republican nominee coming out of the Republican primaries.”

      Is that so? Tell me where you got your prescience? Have you discovered some hole in the space-time continuum which allows you to travel into the future and return to tell us about it? Or perhaps clairvoyance gives you a glimpse of what the future holds and you have seen fit to pass that wisdom on?

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      1. BPhillips

        I'm also saying Trump wins the nomination. And the Chiefs will beat the Jets this weekend. Let me know if you need any other predictions.

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      2. Avatar photo
        Driven away by the bigots

        I don't understand your reaction at all Ben. Predicting Trump will be the nominee is, with apologies to Bill B, the least controversial or outside-the-box take one could have right now. One doesn't need to tear holes in the fabric of spacetime to see where things stand with the race and where they're likely to end up.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Ben Connelly

          My objection is not to the prediction but to the certainty. One of the things I admire about Stirewalt is his willingness to admit that we can’t be certain in any predictions. He hedges and makes humble predictions, rather than saying, “XYZ outcome will definitely come true.”

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          1. Avatar photo
            BillAZ

            That's understandable but here is how I see it. In a normal election year and in "normal" times I would take Stirewalt very seriously but this ain't that. There is no horse race, Trump shot the horse on Fifth Avenue - or in the case of DeSantis broke his leg and had to be put down.

            I think traditional Republicans and conservatives keep holding out this quaint hope that Republican/Trump/"conservative" voters will come to their senses and realize what a horrible mistake they have made.

            Come November 2024 they'll march into the polls and pull the handle for an upright Romney Republican(Mitt not George). I'm not sure if it's a reluctance to call out their voters as irremediable morons or to preserve some shred of what Republicans stand for. Either way I think the chance of that hope materializing is nil. Do you think that's going to happen?

            Trump is currently at 55% and his nearest challenger is at 13%. And according to Pew, "66% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have a very or mostly favorable opinion of Trump."

            It's hope over experience.

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            Driven away by the bigots

            I still am baffled. Your response went beyond chiding someone to hedge a bet. Do you get as worked up about things like weather forecasts? Sports chat shows? Oscar parties? When, in your eyes, is it ok to make a prediction confidently? I'll go out on a limb here, so buckle up, Ben, but I predict the sun will set to the west tonight. Now, I can't be certain, but I feel pretty good about it.

            I don't have the same confidence that Trump will be the nominee, but I think the odds are pretty good.

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      3. Avatar photo
        BillAZ

        Yes! 😁

        Why pretend Ben?

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  10. Tinacrevello1

    "Called" somebody a baby killer, because they believe, versus an actual violent act ( I am not talking about the "activists" that blow up people and clinics. I think activist vs pro life supporter is a big difference. IMO, I feel there is a huge difference in the two.

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