'Always going to be a scab': Union chief blasts Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris told attendees at a rally in Detroit Wednesday where she stands in the upcoming election: with the middle class and on the picket line.

Harris was joined at the boisterous rally of about 15,000 at a hanger at Detroit Metropolitan Airport by union leaders, like UAW President Shawn Fain; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; most of the Democratic congressional delegation; and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. She announced Walz as her partner in the race Tuesday ahead of her tour of battleground states around the country.

Detroit garnered the largest attendance for a rally since Harris began her campaign for president, Walz said. A rally earlier in the day in Eau Claire, Wisc. drew more than 12,000.

Michigan is a critical state in the presidential election in November, Harris told the crowd. With reproductive rights and the economic future of Americans on the line, she said another Donald Trump presidency would bring ruin.

“While fighting for a brighter future may take hard work, we all here know hard work is good work,” Harris said. “I am clear, the path to the White House runs right through this state and with your help, we will win in November, we will win.”

Vice President Kamala Harris addresses a crowd in Detroit at a rally for her campaign for president on Aug. 7, 2024. | Anna Liz Nichols

Last month, the United Auto Workers Union endorsed Harris, citing her decision to walk the picket line with striking UAW workers in 2019 as more than 40,000 workers walked out on the job at dozens of General Motors plants for 40 days. The UAW’s endorsement carries weight in the Midwest where Harris is seeking votes, and there’s been a host of social media posts in support of Walz’s “Midwestern dad” energy.

Walz is the type of guy that would tell you to “always keep jumper cables in your car,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) said at the rally, adding that the Midwest recognizes men like Walz: a veteran, a former high school teacher and football coach, and “the dad making bad jokes.”

After walking out to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Walz began lauding Minnesota culture, mainly the state’s golden rule of, “Mind your own damn business.”

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors’ personal choices. We may not agree with them or make them for ourselves. … It’s amazing what minding your own damn business does to make things work better. Don’t like a book? Don’t read it,” Walz said slamming Republican efforts to ban books, particularly those on racial and LGBTQ+ issues.

Minnesota, like Michigan, is full of individuals who support the Second Amendment, Walz said. But part of being a midwestern state is caring for your neighbors and supporting common-sense gun violence prevention laws.

What Harris represents is simple, but so needed, Walz said. After Republicans have done everything they could to “steal the joy” from the country, Harris emanates joy and hope for the presidency.

Walz railed against Trump and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, for deviating from age-old Republican talking points on freedom and instead being solely interested in taking rights away from people. He referenced Project 2025, which aims to ban same-sex marriages and outlaw abortion, among other measures.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to a crowd in Detroit at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president on Aug. 7, 2024. Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate one day prior. | Anna Liz Nichols

“These ideas that they’re putting out there, they are weird as hell. No one’s asking for it. … We’re asking for health care and childcare. We’re asking for an education. We’re asking for safety in our streets. That’s what we’re asking for,” Walz said. “We’re gonna get it because that’s what this campaign is about. It’s about moving forward. …. You know that Kamala Harris believes that you should be making your own choices in your life. She believes that every person should have an opportunity to enter the middle class. She believes in something so beautiful and simple with joy. She believes in the promise of this great nation.”

Vance held a small event in Macomb County the morning before Harris’ rally, largely blasting Harris’ handling of law enforcement and illegal immigration.

“The failure to protect our communities is a law and is a policy choice,” Vance said. “It is a policy choice to defund the police, which is what Kamala Harris wants to do. It is a policy choice to open up the American Southern border and allow migrant criminals to come into this community and make it less safe. It is a policy choice to not deport people, to suspend deportations, which is what Kamala Harris did.”

Setting the tone for her remarks at the airport, Harris walked on stage to Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” cautioning Michiganders that the election is not simply her versus Trump, but a fight to build into a better future and not return the past.

“We fight for the future. We fight for a future where every worker has the freedom to join a union, where every senior can retire with dignity, a future with affordable housing, affordable childcare, affordable health care and paid leave,” Harris said. “Unlike Donald Trump, I will always put the middle class and working families first, because Coach Walz and I know the middle class built this great country of ours, and when the middle class is strong, America is strong.”

Trump is not interested in supporting the middle class and instead would seek to pad the pockets of billionaires like himself, Harris said. She said that as a prosecutor and California attorney general, she dedicated her time to pursuing justice, but Trump is a convicted felon with no regard for the law.

“The man has openly vowed, if reelected, that he will be a dictator on day one. Think about what that means when he said that he will even ‘terminate the Constitution of the United States,’” Harris said. “Let us be very clear, someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States. Never again."

Hoards of members of the UAW and other labor groups were in the crowd and Fain gave remarks leading up to Harris and Walz taking the stage.

In October 2023, The UAW took on the “Big Three” Detroit automakers — GM, Ford and Stellantis — by going on strike for 46 days in a successful effort to change the pay scale and increase benefits for workers. Fain said throughout the strike that it wasn’t just for autoworkers, but for every member of the working class to be treated fairly by their employer.

“As president of UAW, I have the honor of fighting for economic and social justice for our members, for the entire working class. From the bargaining table to the ballot box, what we bargained for can be taken away tomorrow in the halls of Congress,” Fain said. “To me, this election is real simple. It’s about one question. It’s a question we made famous in the labor movement: Which side are you on?”

“Donald Trump’s always going to be a scab,” Fain added, calling for support for Harris.

“This is our generation’s defining moment and this election is our opportunity to take our lives back. So, Michigan, let’s get to work,” Fain said.

Harris and Walz were scheduled to head to North Carolina on Thursday, before visiting Georgia, but those stops have been postponed due to a tropical storm. In the coming days the pair will go out West to Arizona and Nevada on their battleground states tour.

Before Harris and Walz took the stage, several elected officials also spoke in support of the campaign, including U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Whitmer, who said she woke up Wednesday in “Big Gretch mode.”

Michigan can send Trump “packing,” Whitmer said, but people are going to have to engage with new voters and help them to decide a side in the election.

“We need you to knock doors, because if you knock doors, we win. We need you to make calls, because if you make calls, we win. We need you to donate a buck or two. We can win. In fact, do everything short of biting the kneecaps,” Whitmer said, a reference to the Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell’s team philosophy when he took the position three years ago.

Despite the hot weather, where staff at the rally handed out water bottles and several individuals required medical attention, energy levels were high and the crowd was vocal.

During Harris’ speech, a small group of individuals began chanting, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide,” referring to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Harris initially said, “It’s all good. I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I’m speaking now.”

And as the protest went on, Harris addressed the group saying, “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Michigan had more than 100,000 “uncommitted” voters during the February primary, with many protesting President Joe Biden’s pro-Israel policy. Many uncommitted delegates want to see Harris adopt a more pro-Palestinian agenda. Harris has called for a ceasefire.

The protest went on for several minutes before the group was escorted out by police. Prior to the rally, Harris met with several Michigan leaders in the “uncommitted” movement about their concerns, the New York Times reported.