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As President Joe Biden and that other guy fight for union votes and endorsements in the run-up to the November election—Biden by touting his historically robust labor record and Donald Trump by screaming at the UAW president for not liking him—a particularly telling detail has emerged in the fine print of Trump’s latest FEC filings.
We’ve long known that Trump faked a union rally the day after Biden walked the picket line with striking autoworkers last September. What we didn’t know until now is that Trump spent $20,000 for that fakery—or roughly $10,000 more than he (probably) spends each day on bronzer and hair product to keep voters from thinking Gollum has let himself go.
As Michigan politics reporter Jonathan Oosting discovered, recent financial disclosures show that the Trump campaign paid Drake Enterprises 20-large for use of its facility last fall. The event was an effort to counterprogram Biden’s historic visit to the United Auto Workers picket line. As a sidebar, we also learned that someone in the Trump campaign loves Domino’s Pizza—a lot more than they love union autoworkers, apparently.
Of course, as UAW President Shawn Fain has exhaustively noted, Biden and Trump couldn’t be more different when it comes to supporting workers and unions. For instance, in a recent speech endorsing Biden’s reelection bid, Fain said, “If Donald Trump ever worked in an auto plant, he wouldn’t be a UAW member. He would be a company man trying to squeeze the American worker.” He also called Trump a “scab” and noted he “is a billionaire, and that is who he represents.”
RELATED STORY: UAW shares rousing endorsement of Biden, union president calls Trump a ‘scab’
As for Trump’s September invite-only “union” “rally” at a nonunion auto parts plant? At the time, Fain dubbed it a “pathetic irony.”
Here’s a reminder of how that event played out, courtesy of The Detroit News:
About 400 to 500 Trump supporters were inside a Drake Enterprises facility for the speech. Drake Enterprises employs about 150 people, and the UAW doesn’t represent its workforce. It wasn’t clear how many auto workers were in the crowd for the speech, which was targeted at them.
One individual in the crowd who held a sign that said “union members for Trump,” acknowledged that she wasn’t a union member when approached by a Detroit News reporter after the event. Another person with a sign that read “auto workers for Trump” said he wasn’t an auto worker when asked for an interview. Both people didn’t provide their names.
To review: In the same week that Biden became the first sitting president ever to walk a picket line, Trump was up to his phony face tan in performative piffle.
The new details on Trump’s fake union rally are emerging just as the parties’ respective frontrunners continue to compete for union endorsements and blue collar votes, which will be key to winning the all-important swing state of Michigan.
The Hill:
Amid the spat with the UAW, Trump has turned his sights on the Teamsters union, meeting with Teamsters president Sean O’Brien on Wednesday. When asked about a potential endorsement from the union, the former president suggested that “stranger things have happened.”
However, Fain said Thursday that he can’t see “any way in hell” that Trump would get a union endorsement.
“I’m not gonna try to answer for Sean O’Brien, but I would 100 percent bet that I can’t see any way in hell a union would endorse Donald Trump for president,” Fain said. “The man stands against everything that working-class people stand for, that organized labor stands for.
“You know, look, they chose to entertain visiting with candidates, and that’s a path they chose,” he added. “I mean, I saw no point in it because I look at the track record of Donald Trump.”
But while Trump’s meeting with Teamsters President O’Brien may be little more than a formality, those who really understand the labor movement are noting the absurdity in even hearing Trump out.
Teamsters Vice President John Palmer wrote a scathing letter blasting the decision, stating, “This private back door decision will divide the union and weaken it at the time when we need to fight corporate America and their union busters.” He also scolded O’Brien for “entertain[ing] dialogue with a candidate with such an anti-union record.”
Meanwhile, Chris Silvera, a Teamsters Local 808 leader in New York City, was just as blunt, telling The Washington Post, “There is nothing in Trump’s behavior that has indicated to anyone that he would be supportive of the labor movement. Let me put it this way, it’s as if I would travel to Rome to convince the Pope he should become a Muslim.”
On the other hand, Biden has been one of the most pro-labor presidents ever, and that’s clearly reflected in his record. In September, when Trump was hurriedly constructing his pathetic Potemkin spectacle (with the help of nonunion labor), The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers released a powerful statement comparing Biden’s and Trump’s records.
In short, there’s simply no comparison. But why miss a chance to celebrate Biden?
The accomplishments under President Biden’s leadership … include the passage of transformative legislation, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the life-saving American Rescue Plan. The American Rescue Plan helped save the airline industry, echoing his collaborative efforts with President Obama on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which played a pivotal role in rescuing the American auto industry and fostering millions of jobs nationwide.
The broken promises of President Trump, vowing that “U.S. workers won’t lose one plant” and asserting that “[plants] are all coming back,” resonate in the memories of our members, encapsulated in our “Broken Promise” video series.
“Since taking office, President Biden has spearheaded the creation of millions of jobs, prominently featuring nearly 800,000 new manufacturing positions, “ said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “The resounding success of the Buy America policy has directly improved the livelihoods of countless working Americans. President Biden remains steadfast in safeguarding workers’ rights, exemplified by his repeal of Trump-era regulations that impeded union organizing and collective bargaining. During President Trump’s administration, at least 48 IAM-represented plants closed during his time in office. The President has underscored his commitment to pro-worker policies in strategic appointments across key federal agencies such as the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board. Joe Biden’s policies continue to build and grow an economy that works in the best interest of working families.”
In other words, Bidenomics isn’t just working, it’s working particularly well for those long-forgotten and brutally neglected workers in the so-called Rust Belt.
RELATED STORY: As public support for unions grows, U.S. laws still favor employers
Meanwhile, Bush II–era video has emerged that proves this dude, who will remain shameless, has never really changed his tune. Or at least he hasn’t changed the tune that continually runs through his head. (For those who suspect that nothing runs through Trump’s head but a 24/7 loop of “What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?”—recall that he also needs to save room in there for hating sharks, windmills, and union workers.)
But I digress. Here’s Trump’s 2008 take on how he compensates his employees, and his take on unions—during another UAW strike.
Gee, who could have ever predicted this guy would be an anti-labor president? It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
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Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link.
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