Democrats panic over Trump campaign's 'kinda genius' strategy amid auto worker strike: 'Trump scooped us'

Some Democrats are panicking that Donald Trump is "outmaneuvering" President Joe Biden, according to a new report.

On Monday, the New York Times reported that Trump will skip the second Republican primary debate on Sept. 27 to visit Detroit, where he will meet with auto union workers. The decision was made just days after the United Auto Workers went on strike.

Trump's decision to skip the debate and engage with union workers, according to the Times, shows that his campaign is looking past the Republican primary and focusing its efforts on campaigning against Biden. And unfortunately for the president, that's also exactly how some Democrats understand it, Politico reported.

"Trump scooped us. Now if we announce we're going, it looks like we're just going because of Trump," a Democratic strategist told Politico. "We waited too long. That's the challenge."

The decision to head to Detroit before Biden, a union adviser told Politico, shows that Trump "actually has people who know what they're doing."

"He boxed Biden in. It was kinda genius," the union adviser said.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is helping Biden with the autoworker strike, agreed and suggested Biden lacks a successful campaign message that resonates with working-class Americans, like those on the picket line.

"We should not underestimate Donald Trump. He's a survivor and this is going to be a very hard-fought campaign," Khanna said.

"We need a message to working-class Americans," he added. "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."

The Biden campaign and White House aides, of course, do not believe Trump is "outmaneuvering" Biden. After all, Democrats almost always win union endorsements.

But as Politico noted, Trump won "many rank-and-file union members in 2016," and the White House — by canceling plans to send two top aides to Detroit — is certainly at odds with the unions. That tension is something Trump's campaign will try to exploit beginning this week to build on previous momentum with rank-and-file union workers.

Ahead of his visit, Trump is airing radio ads supporting the workers.

"All they've ever wanted is to compete fairly worldwide and get their fair share of the American dream," the ad says, according to the Times. "Donald Trump calls them great Americans and has always had their backs."

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