It’s no shock that Donald Trump is skipping the second Republican debate next week. The former president is the presumptive nominee for the 2024 Republican nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the only candidate who could theoretically usurp Trump, but there’s been no seismic shift in the polls to suggest that will happen. Everyone else is running to add their names for potential cabinet secretaries. It’s to the point where this isn’t a serious contest, and these debates are, in a word, worthless. There’s no way any of these so-called GOP candidates have a chance in hell of winning the nomination.
There is an argument to support Trump ditching the debate again. He’s so far ahead; why even bother? You also open yourself to a potential gaffe or trip-up that could nuke your position in the race. The difference here is Trump. He could hold his own—he’s done so back in 2016. And that was when the GOP field was deeper. Some don’t like coronations, which is understandable, but this race is done, barring some otherworldly development.
The former president will be speaking to the autoworkers in Detroit who are currently on strike after the United Auto Workers Union failed to reach a new agreement with Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors last Thursday (via ABC News):
Former President Donald Trump is expected to skip the second Republican primary debate, in California on Sept. 27, and will instead visit Detroit to deliver a speech in front of union workers amid a major auto strike, according to a senior adviser.
The move -- which will likely draw criticism from some of his primary challengers, just as it did when he opted out of the first debate -- comes as a work stoppage unfolds against the three largest motor vehicle manufacturers in the U.S. and offers Trump an opportunity to deliver a message to a key voting bloc in a pivotal battleground state, Michigan. (President Joe Biden has likewise emphasized his pro-union bona fides.)
He has been courting auto workers on his social media platform in recent weeks and, while he has yet to offer substantive comments on the strike, he has criticized United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain as not doing a “good job."
On Monday evening, President Joe Biden's campaign assailed Trump's plan to speak with union workers in Detroit next week amid the strike.
“Donald Trump is going to Michigan next week to lie to Michigan workers and pretend he didn’t spend his entire failed presidency selling them out at every turn," Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a written statement. "Instead of standing with workers, Trump cut taxes for the super-wealthy while auto companies shuttered their doors and shipped American jobs overseas. He’s said he would’ve let auto companies go bankrupt, devastating the industry and upending millions of lives. That’s why Trump lost Michigan in 2020 and his MAGA friends further decimated the Michigan Republican Party and cost them 2022. No self-serving photo op can erase Trump’s four years of abandoning union workers and standing with his ultra-rich friends.”
Again, the Biden team needs to shut up about lies. Joe Biden is the king of lies, and his penchant for electric vehicle production is one of the reasons why negotiations failed. Workers wanted the profits the Big Three earned for a pay raise. The automakers wanted it for more EV production and development. Also, UAW workers no longer see Biden and the Democrats as allies since the party comprises a base with no working Americans.
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