Signs touting ā€˜auto workers for Trumpā€™ at Michigan rally found to be fake ā€“ report At least two people holding signs saying ā€˜union members for Trumpā€™ and ā€˜auto workers for Trumpā€™ turned out to be neither

Martin Pengelly in Washington @MartinPengelly Thu 28 Sep 2023 10.48 EDT When Donald Trump gave a speech in Michigan on Wednesday, seeking to capitalise on the United Auto Workers strike, at least two crowd members holding signs saying ā€œunion members for Trumpā€ and ā€œauto workers for Trumpā€ turned out to be neither.

The Detroit News reported: ā€œOne individual in the crowd who held a sign that said ā€˜union members for Trumpā€™ acknowledged that she wasnā€™t a union member when approached by a reporter after the event.

ā€œAnother person with a sign that read ā€˜auto workers for Trumpā€™ said he wasnā€™t an auto worker when asked for an interview. Both people didnā€™t provide their names.ā€

The paper said between 400 and 500 people attended the event, at a non-unionised automotive parts supplier in Clinton Township.

Trump skipped a Republican debate in California to visit Macomb county. Politico pointed out why, saying Macomb ā€œoccupies a unique role on the political map.

ā€œOf the more than 3,000 counties in the US, itā€™s hard to find one thatā€™s a better barometer of the atmospheric conditions affecting the 2024 election [than] Macomb county, with its high percentage of UAW workers.

ā€œā€¦ The blue-collar suburb is often referred to as a bellwether, though ā€¦ itā€™s more like an indicator species in biology, offering important clues on the environmental health of an ecosystem.ā€

One attendee at Trumpā€™s speech who was an auto worker, Doug King, 55, told the Detroit News: ā€œThe four years under Trump were the best years that we had in the auto industry.ā€

Trump told workers negotiations between the UAW and Ford, General Motors and Stellantis ā€œdonā€™t mean as much as you thinkā€.

Railing against the shift to electric vehicles, he added: ā€œYou can be loyal to American labour or you can be loyal to the environmental lunatics. But you canā€™t really be loyal to both. Itā€™s one or the other.ā€

A spokesperson for Joe Biden, Kevin Munoz, called Trumpā€™s speech ā€œincoherentā€, ā€œpatheticā€ and ā€œrecycledā€.

Trump went to Michigan a day after Biden. On Tuesday, in a historic moment in neighbouring Wayne county, Biden joined a UAW picket line and expressed support for striking workers.

The president did so at the invitation of the union president, Shawn Fain. Fain did not meet Trump, telling CNN the former president, the Republican presidential frontrunner, ā€œserves the billionaire classā€.

ā€œI see no point in meeting with him because I donā€™t think the man has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for,ā€ Fain said. ā€œHe serves the billionaire class and thatā€™s whatā€™s wrong with this country.ā€

  • RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Paying people to pose as a member of [group] in a campaign when they arenā€™t should be made a (fraud) crime under campaign finance laws. There are already similar laws enforced by the FTC over fake advertising testimonials.

    Bonus is that once the act itself is made a crime, the federal conspiracy statute can also be applied, which often is under campaign finance violations.