For days, the mainstream media has said Donald Trump is going to Michigan to speak to union autoworkers. That’s completely false: he is traveling there today to speak at a nonunion auto-parts shop, at the invitation of its boss.

This evening, rather than attend the second Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump will speak at Drake Enterprises, Inc., in Macomb County, Michigan. The plant is a nonunion truck-parts manufacturer that has nothing to do with the Big Three, where United Auto Workers (UAW) members are waging a historic strike, the first time they have ever taken on all of the three major automakers at once.

Trump’s visit to Michigan is being coordinated by Michigan’s nonunion auto manufacturers, many of whom oppose the transition to EVs. (Parts suppliers are particularly opposed, as an EV power train requires fewer parts than an internal combustion engine.) Holding such a rally during a strike is the opposite of showing solidarity with union workers. The Republican Party’s faux-populist wing has been trying to convince the public that UAW members oppose it too, and that this is part of their reason for striking. It is not. Rather, it is a segment of auto manufacturers (i.e., the bosses) who object to EVs. The UAW doesn’t oppose the transition; it merely wants it to be just, with jobs in EV plants unionized.

Read more at The Guardian.