There’s been a lot of competition in this election for the votes and endorsements of organized labor. The Teamsters announced they would not endorse a presidential candidate, although some state chapters have backed the Harris-Walz ticket.
Trump and Vance, however, appear popular with fake auto workers.
According to The Detroit News, Vance recently held a rally in Michigan, where the labor vote, especially that of auto workers, has traditionally been important. According to the report, more than a dozen people appeared at the event wearing “Auto Workers for Trump” shirts—but when the Detroit News approached them, six of the people wearing the shirts told the reporter that they were not, in fact, auto workers.
“Six Trump supporters wearing the shirts acknowledged they are not auto workers.” pic.twitter.com/oTE2CqLDkz
— Caroline Stonecipher (@caroline0902) October 8, 2024
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“It’s not a surprise, as the Trump campaign has a long history of faking support from certain groups in desperate attempts to attract more voters,” the New Republic wrote of the bogus auto workers in Michigan. The same report noted that last year, Trump “made a big show of reaching out to union autoworkers at a campaign event in Michigan, but it was held at a nonunion factory, and it wasn’t clear how many of the people attending were even employed in the industry.”
At the Michigan event last year, one woman told the same Detroit News reporter that despite holding a “Union Members for Trump” sign, she was not in fact a member of a union. The 2023 rally was even held during a United Auto Workers strike.
Auto workers are not the only demographic whose support Trump has faked. His campaign has been known to use A.I. technology to claim support from Black voters, as well as Taylor Swift fans.
HAPPENING NOW: PA’s labor leaders rally in Harrisburg to tell Donald Trump they’re not gonna let him or his toxic Project 2025 drag us backward pic.twitter.com/0g8e35wagY
— onotse (@onotseo) July 31, 2024
The fake auto worker shirts come at a time when organized labor is working to defeat Trump. According to The Guardian, unions have “mobilized thousands of members to convince them that Harris is a far better ally than Trump.”
“Trump has found ways to break through with working people,” Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, told the newspaper. “He has the rhetoric down, but he doesn’t have the results to back it up. That’s why it’s important that we, as messengers, combat that with facts.”
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune image library.
