Deceased Detroit Today Caller Tom Wilson’s Final Thoughts On the 2020 Election

Last month, Detroit Today paid tribute to our most loyal and dependable caller, Tom Wilson, who passed away from COVID-19.

“His kind of charming cockiness and sense of humor, we saw him on the line at the Biden rally and we knew this was the guy.” — Daniel Marans, Huffpost

Listeners from all over reached out with their condolences and memories of Wilson. We even heard from national media about our remembrance of “Tom from Northwest Detroit,” as he was best known to our audience.

That included Al Jazeera English, who interviewed Tom shortly before the Michigan primary in March at a Joe Biden rally for their program, “Fault Lines.” A short clip of that interview ran on Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines, in which Wilson adamantly supports Biden’s campaign.

Listen: Journalist Daniel Marans explains why he thinks Tom Wilson’s passing is a story fit for a national audience. 

Guest

Daniel Marans, a journalist for HuffPost, reports on the politics of the Democratic Party and progressive movements.

Marans recently published a short remembrance and obituary for Tom Wilson on HuffPost, recognizing him as a community pillar in Detroit. He was instantly drawn to Wilson, and knew he had to capture some footage for his upcoming documentary surrounding the battle for the Democratic nominee.

We interviewed Tom Wilson for “America’s Divided Democrats.” A politically active Detroiter, Wilson has sadly since passed away from COVID-19.@danielmarans joins @SHDetroit on @wdet tomorrow at 9:40am ET to talk about our brief brush with Tom. Watch our interview, then tune in. pic.twitter.com/a4xg4ByJ6f

— Fault Lines (@AJFaultLines) May 14, 2020

“His kind of charming cockiness and sense of humor, we saw him on the line at the Biden rally and we knew this was the guy,” says Marans of Wilson.

That sense of humor is a big reason Marans was so keen to use footage of Wilson in his documentary. He was particularly captivated by his unwavering confidence, and unique phrasing.

In response to a question regarding Sen. Bernie Sanders’ electability, Wilson answers: “Bernie talks a lot of eargasm, but when the rubber hits the road, there’s no free lunch. Yes I said ‘eargasm.’ You can use it, I don’t have a copyright on it,” joked Wilson.