Michigan matters may be center stage at State of the Union

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Michigan matters may take center stage in tonight's State of the Union.

It won't be a surprise to both sides of the political spectrum that the President Trump will talk about funding for a border wall. Trump's guest list includes the daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter of a couple murdered by an illegal immigrant.  
   
But Michigan may take a front row seat at Tonight's state of the union.  Political analyst Tim Skubick says our new governor Gretchen Whitmer will likely be all ears.  

"Why would she be interested," said Skubick. "Well, she needs federal dollars to fix those roads, and she will be looking for some clue from the president that he's ready to go there with the new infrastructure package. You will recall a couple of years ago, everybody thought Mr. Trump would lead with infrastructure because it's almost an instantaneous 'get' for both Republicans and Democrats." 

And tariff talk will likely be on the menu.  The Big Three and workers outside of the US will be listening.  

"These are the tariffs with China and other countries," Skubick said. "We've already seen workers in their yearly bonuses that were lower particularly for Ford because of the tariffs so this is a major, major issue for the people of Michigan or anybody associated with the auto industry." 

And while the president has tweeted about GM and factory closures and layoffs, it's unclear if he'll be as bold about that in tonight's speech. 

"He definitely has the auto makers in his sights, they on the other hand have said to him 'Don't kill us with these tariffs, Mr. President. We can compete but we have to have a level playing field.' So they may agree to disagree on this issue." 

And finally, the guest list will have perhaps the youngest of them all. sixth-grader Joshua Trump.  He's being bullied in his class because his last name is Trump. Melania Trump's anti bullying campaign will be front and center. 

"The president gets one shot a year to talk directly to the American people," said Skubick, "and over the heads of the people that are in the audience and to the news media."