In the skies over Detroit, a plane flew back and forth pulling a huge banner: "Trump sold you out. Trump hates workers." Such was the welcoming committee reserved for the former American president, who was holding a rally on Wednesday, September 27, at a factory north of Detroit, in support of striking auto workers. On the ground, Donald Trump supporters such as Candice Rock, a 55-year-old nurse, and Sandra Fischer, a 52-year-old unemployed woman, didn't care. For hours, they taunted the Democratic counter-demonstrators before the former president appeared, discreetly in the middle of his convoy of some 40 vehicles.

To hear them tell it, Trump was one of them and their blunt assessments helped explain their unwavering support for the former president, who is also the likely Republican candidate for the 2024 race. "He's funny, he has a sense of humor, he makes me laugh even if it exasperates others," said Rock. "I loved it when he tweeted. That's how he spoke to me. He talked like normal people," added Fischer, in agreement.

Trump may be a New York real estate tycoon who rubbed shoulders with the stars, but his working-class Midwestern constituents are convinced that he is sacrificing himself for their freedom. That's what he repeats at his rallies, and his supporters are won over. Dennis Schnabel, 76, was still reeling from an election phone call involving the president's own son, Donald Jr. "He told us, 'My father isn't doing this for himself, he's doing it for you,'" said Schnabel, adding, "He doesn't need this job." In this milieu, Trump enjoys a reputation for probity, in stark contrast to the Democrats. "Trump is the only president who hasn't taken a penny from the taxpayer [he paid back his presidential salary]. The others, they come in poor and leave rich from the White House. How did Obama get his villa built?" said Timothy Henley, an employee of an industrial company.

As for the multiple legal proceedings piling up against Trump – particularly for the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, designed to overturn the election result – his supporters believed them to be nothing more than conspiracies orchestrated by the Democrats, despite all the evidence to the contrary. "Nancy Pelosi [the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives at the time] was supposed to protect the Capitol. She did nothing. The Democrats sought to sabotage Trump. They're bad people," said Vicky Conway, 64, as young Republicans held up signs calling for the release of people who were convicted after the events of January 6, 2021.

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