Today on inside politics, in minutes, something we have never seen before. From any sitting u. S. President , joe biden stands shoulder to shoulder with picketers on The Front Line of a strike against detroits big three. His team hope ss to show a signf solidarity with unions and hopes it will pay dividends for workers and also for his own road map back to the white house. Plus the dam breaks. At least a dozen senators say bob menendez should quit, including his fellow senator from new jersey cory booker and lawmakers from swing states who face tough battles to keep their own jobs. And the line up is locked in. Tomorrow, seven republicans clash on a california debate stage. Im dana bash. Lets go head the behind the headlines and inside politics. Up first, history in detroit. This Hour Air Force one will land in michigan, where the president will head to the picketline. Auto workers are in the middle of a big fight over pay and whether they get a bigger piece of record corporate profits. Joe biden is fight iing a a war against a familiar faux, donald trump. Detroit is the stage for a 2024 contrast between the two men. And their two very different visions for america. Arlette saenz is in michigan. Arkalette, what do we know righ now . Is the president on his way to where you are . And what do we expect him to do on the picket line . Reporter President Biden is expected to land here in michigan in the next hour, as hes looking to offer the show of support for those Striking Union workers. The white house yaz haz yet to detail where President Biden will visit, but hes expected to visit a picket line here where he will also appear with the uaw president. He extended this invitation to President Biden to come to a picket line just last week. The president decided to accept that. But it comes at an important moment as the uaw refrained in Endpors Dorsing in the president ial election. Many labor groups have backed biden, buts this is one of the endorsements hes still trying to secure. And it comes as the white house has walked a very careful line when it comes to these negotiations between the uaw and the big three auto makers. The white house doesnt have any Legal Authority to be involved in these negotiations, so they have been careful with what they have been able to say. President biden has been out there saying that he supports these auto workers and he believes that the record profits that Auto Companies are earning at this moment should be shared with those workers. But the white house has stopped short of weighing in on the specific demands that the uaw has been making. All of this is playing out as part of the president s core mission here is appealing to those Working Class voters. It comes as theres about to be a remarkable split screen in the 204 race playing out here in michigan over the next two days. Biden is here today. Former President Trump will be here tomorrow to talk to Union Workers himself. Gathering a group together. The white house said this trip is not about trump. They didnt plan this because trump coming here and instead they are focused on showing support for their workers. But it signals of the fights that could be brewing. Keep us posted. Let us know when you see the president there for this historic event. And when he lands, the president will arrive to pleas from workers to make them whole. I came to work through my chemo to support my kids because thats what a hard worker does. And i give that to them. I expect in return for Somebody Just to say, you know what, all those years, all these profits we have made, maybe we can give you a little bit more. Here with me is kohlman hughes, march hooverer, Shane G Maccer and michelle price. Nice to see you. Lets continue to set the table for this discussion by listening to what President Biden said. I think the uaw gave up an incredible amount back when the industry was going under. And they saved the automobile industry. And i think that now that the industry is growing back, they should participate in the pension event. Now lets look at what the former president said on his Social Media Platform yesterday. Remember, he wants to take your jobs away and give them to china and other foreign countries. Shout out to your Union Leadership to endorse donald trump. I will keep your jobs and make you rich. Theres a reason donald trump is going straight to michigan and not even bothering to go to california to compete for the republican contest he is making a robust argument. To the people that helped get him to the white house in the first place that even if the jobs market is coming back and even if rather the auto market and jobs are come ing back, it still bigger in china. If hes turning it around. And if you want a republican who is going to fight for workers, which is what the Republican Party has come to represent amongst the base of the party that supports trump, thats a win ning message for him becaus the facts are on his side. And this is the center of the issue. It maybe good politics to tell people were going to bring manufacturing back to america, but when you ask what happens when you institute tariffs, they are fairly unanimous in saying, industries that have gone to mexico or china, you cant just bring them back by instituting a tariff. What that does is it increases prices for consumers at home without actually bringing the industries back. So what you end up with is that a loselose in reality, although it maybe a nice message. That is definitely true when youre talking about in the shortterm about trade, but when it comes to this is inside politics, when it comes to the workers who are striking and the work voter who is are striking, not just in michigan but elsewhere, lets stick with lets talk broadly about the question. This was asked in an nbc news poll that came out over the weekend, which party would do a better job for the economy. Middle class and look at that. The republicans are about even with democrat when is it comes to the middle clasp. Thats a pie chart thats a big red flag for democrats getting into the next election. When you look at the two visits, it speaks to both how President Biden and former President Trump want to be port Trump Administration themselves to biden. Being a pro Union Democrat is a nonnegotiable. Its part of the image. The fact that he was from scranton, his ties back to pennsylvania, so on the specifics of whether the workers should get the raise they are asking for, he hasnt nece necessarily gone all in, but wants to be there. For trump, its the same thing. This is the play that sent him to the whoes. It was voterss in michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania and hes saying im the guy that can win them back. And hes going to skip that debate in california im going to talk about joe biden because thats who aisle running against. The story here, it would not be a story if donald trump were not a figure right now in the Republican Party. A very looming figure and potentially joe bidens republican rival, you mentioned how things shook out in michigan and wisconsin. Certainly he did well, but he didnt win in michigan and in wisconsin. But lets look at what happened with joe biden. He got 62 of uniton households, in wisconsin, 59 . That was up from what had Hillary Clinton got. And joe biden won michigan and wisconsin. Hillary clinton did not. That tells the political story of what were seeing. Were talking nationally how perceived on the economy, but in these states, unionheavy states, its a different message. Were going to see President Biden, hes a pro union message, a pro worker message, President Trump is not prounion, but hes pro work er. Hes made some statements encouraging the Union Workers showing solidarity and suggesting they shouldnt pay union dues. So hes trying to thread the needle. There was a huge discrepancy between the Union Leadership back in 2016 and how they voted, which we hadnt seen before much with democrats. Let me just zero in on wayne county, which is where the president is going. He will be there very soon. Again, joe biden got 68. 4 there. He really cleaned Donald Trumps clock in wayne county. For joe biden to win again, he needs those numbers and the enthusiasm to stay high like that because this is part of the blue wall and the blue wall keeps democrats in the white house and when it krulables like in 2016, republicans win. Lets also be realistic about whats happened in michigan since 2020. It was a blue wall and returned to being a blue wall. Democrats swept the state at every level. The governorship, all the legislature, both houses. It was despite the economy, not because of it. But because of abortion. And so the economy and autos are part of the argument, but theres a larger argument in favor of joe biden, which isnt going to help republicans if you rinse and repeat in 2024. You talked about wayne county. Mahmoud mcholmes county back in 2016, we have seen a lot of these placess in michigan had basically byebye signals of where the Namarginal Voter is going. So i think the sticks are high for both trump and biden here. Ill go back further. Standby wp we have breaking news. More calls for embattled senator bob menendez to resign, including from cory booker. Well talk about that, coming up. Support for bob menendez among his colleagues in the senate is crumbling. At least a dozen senators are calling on him to resign. One of them is his fellow new jersey senator bcory booker. Hes face Ing Corruption Charge including allegations he used his influence to help the government of egypt in exchange for cash and gold bars. My panel is back with me. Let me just read this cory booker statement. He said, quote, Senator Menendez fiercely asserts his innocence, and its understandable that he believes stepping down is fair, but i believe this is a mistake. We were talking about how significant this is for his fellow senator. To do this. This has come really quick. You saw a handful of senators in vulnerable seats up in 2024 say ing he should step down. In montana, ohio, nevada, wisconsin and pennsylvania, and that matters politically for the party, but for menendezs seat mate and the person who stood by him when he was indicted before to say its time to go, they cant force him out, but this is about as much political pressure as hes going to face from those people calling for him to step down. It gets to the point when sometimes when these things happen when the dominos start to fall very quickly. And youre seeing that this morning. Its happening as we speak. Let me just put up on the screen. John fetterman was a couple days ago. Now its jackie rosen, cory booker, Michael Beb Net and the key that you just said, which is very telling politically, all of these senators on the ballot this coming year. Sherrod brown, john tester, elizabeth warren, these are all democrats. This is for these candidates, these senators running for reelection, they want to draw contrast with republicans, they want to draw contrast with donald trump. This is a distraction. This isnt something they want to be talk about talking or defending. Today we reached this moment where it was getting conspicuous. So some of the swing states like nevada, they are contrast with republicans with trump at the top of the ticket, it helps the democratic candidate to show that they are not a party that tolerates the appearance of any corruption. And thats such a good point. One of the other questions about strategy here, having all of these the democrats come out now is what they really want to do. And i interviewed dick durbin, the number two democrat on sunday, and he stopped short of saying that bob menendez should resign. When i asked if he should run for reelection, he said something along the lines of, were going to see what happens with that. My sense is its just in talking to some democrats from new jersey is that part of what were seeing here, these dom knows is trying to at the very least get Senator Menendez to say im not running for reelection, to try to take some political pressure off. This is really at a political debate about retaking the senate when youre talking about dick durbin. It youre a democrat hold ing te senate, expanding your power, and for republicans, 2024 is their best shot at taking back the senate if you look at the map. All of the republicans up are in very safe they have opportunities for pickups and to take the majority become in the senate. So they would like nothing more than to have a Pickup Opportunity in new jersey. By the way, new jersey recently has demonstrated that republicans have gotten pretty close at taking majorities in that state. So if i were a democratic senator, i would much prefer to have chris murphy, the governor, appoint somebody for the remainder of menendezs turn that has a running start, at least say hes not going to run so they can be sure they know who their candidate is who thereby a strong opponent. This is about the 2024 senate map. Thats why you see democrats piling on, because theyment the contrast and the power. If Senator Menendez says im not going to run for reelection, then it starts the campaign. The democrats to run against each other in a primary and maybe tries to balance the p Playing Field a little more. Now you have coleman, republicans, including some who worked closely with Senator Menendez, sort of coming to his defense. Sort. Of. This is cotton, who twooeted, the charges are serious and troubling. At the same time, the Department Of Justice has a troubling record of failure and corruption in these cases against public figures from ted stevens to donald trump to bob menendez the last time around. Hes not coming to the defense of his colleague when it comes to the substance of the allegations, instead using it as a way to get in on the sort of hammer that the republicans are hit hitting on every front against the justice department. I think we can see republicans draw a parallel between bob menendez corruption and the corruption they are alleging of the biden family. They actually seized the gold bars and the cash stuffed into clothes. This is exactly what republicans hope to find sometime down the line at bidens house. And because they are part of the same party, republicans are going to try to draw a parallel here. Theres no direct evidence in the case of biden, but youre going to see a story told where this is what democrats do. Look at biden. Look at menendez. I was just going to add on what is menendezs future here. Were talking about the political questions, but there are real legal questions. If youre a sitting senator, being a suting senator is one of your Leverage Points with the justice department. Theres conversations about not running again. Theres conversations about stepping down. Theres conversations about resigning. Those are often parts of a negotiation post indictment, and you have seen members of congress, who hold out for sol kind of plea deal. As part, they step out of office. So despite the political pressure thats building today, menendez has a separate legal argument hes dealing with in addition to the political one. Thats such an important one. They are very connected. No Question Conversations are happening. Even if they are not happening officially, they are being discussed behind t sahe scenes. Standby. The stage is set for the second republican primary debate. Donald trump wont be there, but well tell you who did make the cut, next. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Youre looking at live p pictures of President Biden, who is now on the ground in michigan. You see hes talking there to deb bidingell, who represents the district where he is, where the strike is happening. And the state where hes going to visit. And next to her, is john fain, who is the head of the uaw. And they are greeting the president. Unclear if they will all be going with him to the picket line, but what youre looking at is the beginning of an historic visit, the first time a u. S. President comes to a picket line, an active picket line. Its kind of surprising in the history of this country given how many strikes there have been and the kinds of president s we have seen that it hasnt happened before, but apparently it has not. So were waiting for the president to finish his meet and greet on the tarmac. And then he will get in the motorcade and join workers on the picket line. So were going to monitor that. We will let had you know when that event does happen. In the meantime, california will host seven republican candidates and it will be the latest, the second debate clash, were going to see on the the stage. The missing person is donald trump. Again, he will counterprogram, he will be where joe biden is right now. He will be in the state of michigan. He is going to go there to make an argument about trying to get workers in his corner, again, if he does win the republican nomination and does go on to run against Joe Biden In November of 2024. Lets talk about all this with our reporters who are here. Talk about the debate stage and what were