In his final rally before Election Day, Donald Trump brought out a KKK sympathizer to hype up his Grand Rapids, Michigan, crowd.
Just after 1 a.m. EST Tuesday morning, Trump invited Brian Pannebecker, the founder of Auto Workers for Trump, onstage to speak. Pannebecker, a longtime Trump supporter, was outed by Politico in 2015 for praising David Duke’s My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding in a 2001 Amazon review, and for calling President Barack Obama “a race hustler” who was “trying to benefit from racial tension and animosity,” in a 2015 Facebook post.
Pannebecker praised Trump at his last campaign rally and predicted that 65 percent of United Auto Workers members in Michigan would vote for Trump and he would carry suburban Macomb County. The county was key to Trump’s victory in the state in 2016, and Pannebecker said, shouting, “We’re gonna carry Michigan again!”
A speech from Brian Pannebecker (@BryPannebecker) of Michigan’s Auto Workers for Trump at the final Trump Rally tonight in Grand Rapids. If this doesn’t get you fired up to vote for Trump tomorrow I don’t know what will. pic.twitter.com/CHobMT5rTL
— Conservazoomer (@Conservazoomer) November 5, 2024
Trump and Pannebecker’s relationship goes back to that 2016 campaign, with Trump meeting with the Michigan native back then even after the news of his David Duke praise was revealed. Pennebecker has been an active campaigner for Trump during this election, making regular appearances at Trump’s rallies in Michigan and being dubbed Trump’s “go-to Michigan auto worker” by the The Detroit News.
But Pannebecker is exaggerating how much support Trump is getting from autoworkers. The UAW endorsed his opponent, Kamala Harris, in July, drawing the ire of Trump. On one of JD Vance’s visits to Michigan earlier this month, several people in the crowd for his speech wore “Auto Workers for Trump” T-shirts but weren’t autoworkers at all. On October 15, Trump even belittled autoworkers, saying their jobs were so easy children could replace them.
As a battleground state, Michigan’s election results are expected to be very close and could be a bellwether for who wins the presidency. The question is whether autoworkers in the state, a key voting constituency, will vote based on the UAW’s endorsement and Democrats’ pro-labor record or go with glib promises from Trump and Pannebecker.
