by Holly Otterbein at Politico
Some Joe Biden allies fear that Donald Trump is outmaneuvering them on the auto workers’ strike with his decision to head to Detroit for a speech next week.
Democrats close to the White House said they saw Trump’s trip as a plainly cynical ploy to gain political advantage from the current United Auto Workers strike at three plants. But they also worry it is a sign that the ex-president had a more sophisticated campaign than in previous cycles — and that Biden’s operation needs to step it up.
“We should not underestimate Donald Trump. He’s a survivor and this is going to be a very hard-fought campaign,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a member of Biden’s national advisory board who was in Wayne, Mich., and Toledo, Ohio, on Monday with UAW members. “We need a message to working-class Americans. Right now, they’re still hurting in terms of gas prices, food prices, housing costs, utilities costs, and they don’t feel like their wages are going up fast enough, and they feel like the very wealthy are getting too much of the rewards. That’s what I heard on the picket lines.”
A union adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to offer a blunt evaluation, said Trump “is still himself and will say and do crazy shit.” But, the person added, “he actually has people who know what they’re doing. He boxed Biden in. It was kinda genius.”
Inside the White House and Biden campaign,…
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