You spend night after night outside the factory corralling the many newspeople trying to get inside stories, securing food and medicines for people inside the factory, and texting allies around the country to secure their support. Auto companies keep silent, an implicit statement of support to the occupying workers. A CNN interview inside the factory shows workers dutifully caring for the factory equipment and producing U.S.-made electric vehicles.
This creates a bad look for Trump. He looks anti-U.S. jobs. Trump won’t back down — so he decides to cut his losses. At 3 am he posts on social media: “MIGRANTS ARE TOSSING BABIES INTO THE RIVER AT THE BORDER. LOOK INTO IT.” He tries again: “ILLEGALS KILLED UP TO 200 AMERICANS. THE REAL ISSUE.”
The next morning you scramble, calling as many people as you can. People got the memo. Thousands of people flock to the factory. Throngs of people surround factory entrances. Despite some media getting pulled in by Trump, reporters are now embedded in a crowd of thousands — and those images resonate widely.
Police begin setting up barricades around the protestors. The issues are a blurry mix — with some standing against climate change, others demonstrating support for American jobs or unions, and still others there just to defy Trump. Worried about violence, Michigan’s governor orders the military to support the police insofar as they can to reduce violence.