The United Auto Workers Rejected Trump. Members Aren’t So Sure

As the ex-president attempts to play on Rust Belt anxieties about the transition to electric vehicles, many remain wary of Biden’s record

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The plane flies in wide, easy circles over Drake Enterprises, a manufacturing plant in the Detroit suburbs. The pilot, presumably, cannot see the many middle fingers held aloft in the parking lot below or the woman who mimics shooting the aircraft out of the sky. The banner the plane is towing bears a simple message: “Trump Sold Us Out.”

It’s the last Wednesday in September, and Donald Trump is heading to Drake, which makes engine parts, to address participants in a historic strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the most influential unions in the country. This, at least, is what Trump would like you to believe. In fact, the event will take place inside a nonunionized factory roughly 48 miles from the nearest picket line.

So far, I’m not seeing a lot of red UAW shirts waiting to get into this purportedly union-heavy event. I’m not seeing a lot of anyone, really. At 2 p.m., hours before the doors are set to open, only about 40 people stand in line with me. The lack of people is unusual for a Trump event, though the crowd is typical: men and women, mostly in their 50s and 60s, decked out in MAGA baseball caps and T-shirts. Several shirts feature Trump’s mug shot with the caption “Wanted: For President.” I chat with the woman in front of me in line, who asks if I too had been in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. She is not an autoworker.

As we wait, a cameraman from a far-right TV station sets up at the front of the line and gestures us into his shot. “Real America’s Voice tells the truth!” an anchor for the station shouts to the crowd as the Trump supporters squish together behind him, creating the illusion of an enormous gathering. I maneuver toward the edge of the frame. “Wait till I give you the signal,” the anchor says. “All right, let’s get fired up! MAGA energy!”

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