Some attendees at Donald Trump’s speech about the autoworkers’ strike Wednesday apparently were shills carrying signs falsely identifying them as union members, the Detroit News reported.
One person held a sign that said “union members for Trump,” but admitted to the newspaper she was not a union member. Another carried a placard with the words “auto workers for Trump” and confessed he was not an auto worker when the outlet requested an interview. Neither identified themselves.
Trump visited Michigan to show solidarity with striking United Auto Workers members, but instead stoked fear about electric cars to the crowd at a nonunion auto parts supplier. He warned workers that they would be out of a job in a few years, even if they secured sought-after salary increases.
“Your current negotiations don’t mean as much as you think,” he said.
The affiliations of the guests receiving his message came into question. The business, Drake Enterprises in suburban Detroit, employs about 150 people who are not represented by the UAW, the newspaper noted. And there were an estimated 400 to 500 in attendance.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain called Trump’s rally at a nonunion shop a “pathetic irony,” The Daily Beast reported.
Trump has faced crowd-related controversy before. His inflated boasts about attendance at his 2017 inauguration got his presidency off to a falsehood-marred start.