SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
August, 08 2016, 02:15pm EDT
Contact:
Contact: Erik Shelley, 248-982-6326
MichiganPeoplesCampaign@yahoo.com
Ryan Bates, 248.787.6767, dasbates@gmail.com
Michigan Women Disrupt Donald Trump in Detroit
Protesters challenge candidate’s stance on sexual harassment, auto jobs
DETROIT
Donald Trump's campaign stop in Detroit was immediately derailed when more than a dozen women stood up and challenged Trump's claim that he would bring back manufacturing jobs.
"You want to close Michigan plants and out source our jobs!" shouted Jacquie Maxwell, a Grosse Pointe Woods auto worker, as she stood on her chair. "How are we supposed to raise our families without good jobs? Is that what you call winning?"
In an August 2015 interview in the Detroit News, Trump proposed his surprising plan to help the auto industry: close plants in Michigan and Ohio, and move plants to low-wage states. This slash-and-burn approach would cause whole communities who depend on auto jobs to collapse.
The Trump family has also drawn criticism for their comments on sexual harassment. Daughter Ivanka Trump said she would not "allow herself to be sexually harassed," while her brother, Eric, said women bring the harassment upon themselves. This point of view seems to run in the family with candidate Donald Trump offering the suggestion that women who are harassed simply find another job. None of this sat well with protesters at the rally.
"Why are you blaming the victims of sexual harassment?"said Detroit food server Sarah Messer. "Why shouldn't women be safe at our work? It's not our fault!"
In fact, Donald Trump has himself been accused of sexual harassment multiple times for years, according to the New York Times article, "Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved with Women in Private."
###
The Michigan People's Campaign is a statewide organization that is building a movement to put people and the planet before profits, forge a more just and sustainable future, foster participatory democracy at every level, create an economy that works for the many and a society that dismantles racism while uplifting our common humanity.
Learn more about the Michigan People's Campaign at our website:www.michiganpeoplescampaign.org
People's Action builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections.
LATEST NEWS
IDF Says 'All of Israel Is Under Fire' as Iran Retaliates With Missile Barrage
Video footage appeared to show Iranian missiles striking Tel Aviv as residents were warned to take cover in bomb shelters.
Jun 13, 2025
This is a developing news story... Please check back for possible updates...
Iran on Friday reportedly fired hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Israel, and smoke was seen rising from the city of Tel Aviv as Tehran began its retaliation for the large-scale attack that Israel's military committed just hours earlier.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on social media that "all of Israel is under fire." Minutes later, the IDF said that the "Iranian attack is ongoing," noting that "dozens of additional missiles were launched toward Israel."
The Israeli military instructed residents across the country to "remain close to protected spaces" and minimize "movement in public areas" until an all-clear is given. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Unnamed U.S. officials told the Associated Press that American military assets were being used to help the Israelis intercept incoming missiles from Iran, though the sources, according to the AP, "did not say how the U.S. provided assistance."
Video footage posted to social media appeared to show Iranian missiles hitting Tel Aviv as Israel's military worked to intercept the attack:
Another angle: pic.twitter.com/JRgp0f0qjU
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) June 13, 2025
The missile barrage came after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Israel to expect "harsh punishment" for its early Friday assault, which hit Iranian nuclear infrastructure and killed a top nuclear negotiator—an indication, according to expert observers and Iranian officials, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is bent on sabotaging any progress toward a U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who withdrew from a previous Iran nuclear accord during his first term in the White House, said Friday that Israel hit Iran "about as hard as you're going to get hit," adding: "There's more to come. A lot more."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'It's Time for Kristi Noem to Resign,' Say Lawmakers After Assault on Padilla
"Every day," warned Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "Donald Trump is making this nation look more and more like a fascist state."
Jun 13, 2025
Sen. Elizabeth Warren put herself alongside other Democratic lawmakers and outside critics who say Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem should resign from office following the assault on Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) at a press event she was holding inside a federal building in Los Angeles on Thursday.
"It's time for Republican Senators to speak up and support an independent investigation into what happened to Senator Padilla," Warren said Friday. "And it's time for Kristi Noem to resign."
"This is not a drill. This is an assault on our democracy." —Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Appearing on MSNBC's "All With With Chris Hayes" Thursday night, Warren explained that the attack on Padilla, who simply wanted to ask Noem questions about the ongoing Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raids taking place in Los Angeles and elsewhere, is "something bigger" than a case of mistaken identity or the poor training of the officers who wrestled the Democratic lawmaker to the ground and put him in handcuffs.
"Why was Senator Padilla hancuffed?" said Warren. "He was handcuffed for asking a question. He was handcuffed for doing his job as a senator."
"Anyone who isn't already convinced that the Trump administration is trying to undermine free speech in this country; trying to shut down anyone who doesn't agree with Donald Trump and doesn't bend a knee to Donald Trump—anyone who doesn't believe that's what the Trump administration is doing," said Warren, "needs to watch that video of Senator Padilla being wrestled to the ground and handcuffed simply for trying to ask a question. That's why this is a big deal."
Warren was far from alone in her call demanding the immediate resignation of Noem, who, following the incident, claimed not to know who Padilla was and falsely said he did not identify himself, which the video shows he did.
"Kristi Noem should resign in disgrace," said Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who also accused the secretary and her underlings at DHS of lying about the incident.
"Resign now, Kristi Noem," echoed Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) in a social media post.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the pro-democracy watchdog group Public Citizen, called the attack on Padilla "utterly unacceptable" and held DHS responsible.
"This was an open event and the senator was there to do his job and represent his state," said Gilbert. "Answering the questions of a sitting U.S. senator with assault is a blatant abuse of power, demonstrating the Trump administration's increasingly brazen authoritarian tendencies."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also weighed in, saying that those responsible for the treatment of Padilla must be held to account.
"The assault in California by federal agents against my colleague Sen. Alex Padilla was outrageous, and those responsible must be held accountable," said Sanders. "Tragically, what happened to Sen. Padilla today is becoming normal behavior for a Trump administration which is moving us toward authoritarianism."
In a floor speech in the U.S. Senate following the assault on Padilla, Warren called on her Senate colleagues to condemn Noem's actions and the increasingly authoritarian moves by Trump's cabinet and federal agencies under his command.
"Every day, Donald Trump is making this nation look more and more like a fascist state," Warren warned.
"This is not a drill. This is an assault on our democracy," she declared. "I am calling on my Republican colleagues to join us in demanding a bipartisan investigation into this incident. What happened at this press conference was disgraceful. It was un-American. And every member of the United States Senate should condemn it and condemn it now."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Fear Is the Point': Alarm as Republicans Launch Probe of 200+ Immigrant Charity Groups
"An attack on civil society is an attack on us all," said Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez. "We must dissent."
Jun 13, 2025
Congressional Republicans this week launched an investigation into more than 200 immigrant charity organizations, a move that Democratic lawmakers and the targeted groups condemned as an egregious effort to intimidate opponents of the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda.
"Terror is the point. Cruelty is the point. Fear is the point," Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said Friday in response to the probe, which was announced earlier this week by top Republicans on the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS).
"The actions of Republicans on CHS unlawfully target organizations standing against their authoritarian power grab," said Ramirez. "An attack on civil society is an attack on us all. We must dissent."
On Tuesday, Reps. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) sent letters to at least 215 organizations in a purported effort to "determine whether these NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity."
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Make the Road New York, Catholic Charities USA, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Global Refuge were among the organizations that received investigatory letters from the House Republicans.
"Republicans mistakenly believe they have a mandate to inflict cruelty on migrants with their anti-immigrant agenda, but Americans want migrants treated fairly. This sham investigation is the opposite of that."
The letters give the targeted groups two weeks to respond to a survey that, according to the House Republicans, includes questions on "government grants, contracts, and disbursements they have received" and "any legal service, translation service, transportation, housing, sheltering, or any other form of assistance" they have provided to undocumented immigrants since January 2021.
A link to the survey is redacted in the GOP's letter to CHIRLA, an organization that was also targeted this week by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who accused the group of providing "logistical support and financial resources to individuals engaged" in Los Angeles protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
In a statement Wednesday, CHIRLA said that "we categorically reject any allegation that our work as an organization now and during the past 39 years providing services to immigrants and their families violates the law."
"Our mission is rooted in non-violent advocacy, community safety, and democratic values," the group continued. "We will not be intimidated for standing with immigrant communities and documenting the inhumane manner that our community is being targeted with the assault by the raids, the unconstitutional and illegal arrests, detentions, and the assault on our First Amendment rights."
A CHIRLA representative told the New York Post, a right-wing tabloid that first reported the House GOP investigation into the 215 charity groups, that the organization has "not participated, coordinated, or been part of the protests being registered in Los Angeles," apart from holding a rally last Thursday before the protests exploded.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, issued a joint statement with Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) on Thursday condemning their Republican colleagues' investigation as "little more than a campaign to intimidate these groups so they'll stop the good work that our communities rely on."
"The fact that they sent demand letters to groups that have never received federal funding, and others that received money specifically provided by Congress to assist immigrants, shows how unserious their investigation is," Thompson and Thanedar said, adding that "most of the information they have requested is publicly available."
"More detailed records on the funding—including receipts—are owned by DHS, which their party controls. It raises the question—are they too lazy to pull this information themselves, or is the intent simply to bully groups they hate?" the Democrats continued. "Republicans mistakenly believe they have a mandate to inflict cruelty on migrants with their anti-immigrant agenda, but Americans want migrants treated fairly. This sham investigation is the opposite of that."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular