Less than a week after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, President Trump is set to speak at the Detroit Economic Club (DEC) on Tuesday. CEO of Detroit PBS, who is a Board member of DEC, defended the group’s decision to host Trump, calling the organization “truly bipartisan.”
By Nancy Levine Stearns | January 12, 2026
President Donald Trump plans to speak to the Detroit Economic Club at the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit this week, a day before the Detroit Auto Show. The president is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13.
A spokesperson from the Detroit Economic Club (DEC) told Impactivize that DEC is a nonpartisan group that has a “standing policy” of extending an “open invitation” to presidents who want to speak. He said, “When the White House calls,” as he confirmed the Trump White House did, the group extends its open invitation policy.
When asked whether that policy should change to prevent normalizing Trump amidst the rising threat of fascism, the spokesperson cited the “historical context” of DEC’s nonpartisan hosting, saying the group has presented numerous past presidents, regardless of their political affiliations.
The spokesperson said DEC Board members had not made any public comments about Trump’s planned appearance. Impactivize has reached out to several DEC Board members requesting their comments about DEC’s rationale for hosting the president.
Rich Homberg, President and CEO of Detroit PBS, is a Board member of DEC. He reiterated DEC’s rationale for hosting Trump. In a message to Impactivize, Homberg said DEC “is a truly bipartisan organization where a multitude of voices have always been welcome.” He wrote, “I was introduced to the DEC when I first got to Detroit two decades ago and have long believed in its mission, as do the most significant leaders of our community. Unfiltered voices on the organization’s stage lead to a more informed community.”
Homberg’s comments may raise some eyebrows, as the Trump administration’s attack on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) has crippled public broadcasting across the country.
Trump issued an executive order to defund PBS and NPR (National Public Radio) last year. Last week, the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) announced it was shutting down. “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funded NPR, PBS and hundreds of local radio and TV stations across the United States for more than a half-century, said on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization because Congress cut off its federal money,” the New York Times reported.
More broadly, Trump’s attack on the free press has been increasingly virulent and dangerous. Trump continues to call journalists and the free press “the enemy of the people.” That phrase, which Trump “has repeatedly said in his attacks on the media was used by dictators including Stalin and Mao,” the Guardian reported in 2018.
That same year, at rally in Montana, Trump applauded then-Congressman Greg Gianforte (now Montana Governor) for body-slamming a Guardian reporter the previous year. Gianforte had assaulted Ben Jacobs when the journalist asked a question about Republicans’ healthcare policy.
Against the current political backdrop and its dire consequences, the DEC’s rationale to normalize Trump seems tone-deaf, at best.
31 Nobel Laureates warned that “the signs of fascism are here,” TIME reported in June last year. A Renewed Open Letter Against the Return of Fascism was signed by more than 400 scholars “who understand that being silent is to be complicit.”
The authors of the TIME article wrote: “When hundreds of scholars—many who have dedicated their lives to studying the fall of democracies—warn that fascism is returning, they are not being dramatic. They are being precise.”
Ryan Berg, Chief Learning Officer at TLS, an educational consulting firm, echoed the warning of a fascist takeover, writing about DEC’s decision to host Trump. Berg commented on a LinkedIn post:
“DEC can call itself nonpartisan, but end times fascism is designed to make that stance impossible. This is not a normal Republican versus Democrat disagreement about taxes or regulation. It is a governing style that uses fear, impunity, and intimidation to shrink the circle of who is protected by the law, and it depends on elite institutions continuing to treat it as normal. When DEC hosts Trump and sells tickets as if this is just another speaker, it is not staying above politics. It is helping convert an anti-democratic project into respectable civic programming.” Berg added, “In this moment, ‘nonpartisan’ is not a safe position. It is a choice to normalize the abnormal, and that normalization is how the takeover becomes durable.”
Other notable Board members listed on DEC’s site include (names of Board members in bold type):
Gary Miles, Editor and Publisher, The Detroit News. As noted above, Trump has called the free press “enemy of the people.”
Nicole Avery Nichols, Editor, Vice President, Detroit Free Press. Can’t be overstated: Trump’s war against the free press is dangerous.
Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State. Trump sued Benson for refusing to turn over voter data.
Mary Culler, President, Ford Philanthropy. Ford Motor Company has spent 80-plus years working to repair the brand damage done by founder Henry Ford. “Hitler was very aware of Henry Ford, of Henry Ford’s writings, and praised them,” PBS American Experience reported. Ford Motor Company’s current alliance with Trump threatens to aggravate its brand wound.
Heidi Magyar, Director of Corporate Citizenship and Heritage Operations, General Motors. The Trump administration is waging war on anyone whose heritage is not of white Christian nationalist heritage — implementing the blueprint of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., President, Michigan State University. The Trump administration has waged war against higher education, targeting colleges and universities. Former Yale University professor Jason Stanley wrote: “I Study Fascism. I’ve Already Fled America,” about his move to Canada, Mother Jones reported.
Robert Riney, President & CEO, Henry Ford Health. A legal group cofounded by Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller filed a formal federal complaint against Henry Ford Health last year over its DEI initiatives. America First Legal alleged HFH initiatives “block hires of white male candidates.”
Arn Tellem, Vice Chairman, Detroit Pistons. The NBA Pistons’ head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, a Black man, posted a Tweet on Jan. 6, 2021, about the attack on the U.S. Capitol, while he was coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers (team owned by Dan Gilbert, who is also a DEC Board member).
Bickerstaff wrote on Jan. 6: “Today was a deeply saddening day. My 8 year old lil girl told my wife she was scared to go to sleep because of fear that those bad people in DC would come to Cleveland. No matter your politics that ain’t America! That is treason!”
Currently, Trump is revising history. “The White House on Tuesday sought to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, unveiling a new webpage that described the pro-Trump marchers as ‘peaceful’ and ‘orderly’ and accused police of escalating tensions and violence,” ABC News reported.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, Congresswoman representing Michigan’s 6th Congressional District. In 2023, Rep. Dingell wrote an oped titled “How to Stand Up to Trump,” for the New York Times. She wrote:
“Being in Mr. Trump’s tunnel of hate is not enjoyable. Frankly, it’s often frightening. Like many of my colleagues, I have received hostile calls, antagonistic mail and death threats, and I have had people outside my home with weapons. And it reflects the vitriol, bullying, rage and threats we are witnessing across the country today — from our exchanges on social media to dialogue with each other and with those in our workplaces, schools, gathering places, families and communities. It’s a real danger to our democracy and our safety.”
Rep. Dingell concluded, writing, “We need to hold people accountable for their words. I know that if John were here, he would tell me to do exactly what I’m doing now — to stand up and make my voice heard, and not back down.”
No additional DEC Board members have responded to inquiries. This story will be updated if any DEC Board members submit their comments.