Has Kamala Harris Lost the Teamsters' Union?
Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien is not a happy man.
The Teamsters were not given a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention. The big Democrat brains (yes, I know) organizing that event won’t tell Mr. O’Brien why they didn’t give him a speaking slot. His members, he maintains, are not happy about that.
.@Teamsters President Sean O’Brien says the Democrats never said why they didn’t give him a chance to speak at the DNC, after he had addressed the RNC one month before.
“I’m not upset about it, but I can tell you this — my rank-and-file members who have been lifelong Democrats… pic.twitter.com/7mM2mTzyI9
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 1, 2024
That’s funny, because only a few weeks earlier, Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention, becoming the first Teamsters Union president to do so – ever.
O’Brien said that since he took the union’s top job, he’s been happy to find growing support from Republicans, including Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
“The Teamsters and the GOP may not agree on many issues, but a growing group has shown the courage to sit down and consider points of view that aren’t funded by big money think tanks,” he said.
O’Brien became the first union president to address the RNC, and directly addressed the criticisms against him.
This is an interesting juxtaposition indeed. The big unions have been Democrat strongholds for many decades. They have been, since the FDR years, a constituency that the Democrats could rely on, but now they seem to be throwing that away by neglect. Is this on purpose, or is it just stupidity? A good argument could be made for both. The left is losing the working class, and it’s not just happening in the United States.
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There are at least a couple of reasons for this.
First, a huge part of the blue-collar working class isn’t down with the “progressive” agenda and its results. They don’t like paying $4 a gallon for gasoline. They don’t want boys in their daughters’ locker rooms in schools or universities. They don’t like the waves of illegal immigrants who are being put up in hotels at taxpayers’ expense in a lot of places.
Second, Trump. His stances on immigration and international trade resonate well with blue-collar workers who are living through the de-industrialization of the United States. He talks about jobs, a lot, and he is making inroads with the rank and file.
The Democrats, of course, will never lose the public sector unions or the teacher’s unions. But that’s not enough. The Teamsters, the UAW, the rank and file members of those unions are looking at the modern Democrats and a lot of them are not liking what they see.
Don’t just take my word for it – listen to Sean O’Brien. On the DNC not allowing the Teamsters president to speak, Mr. O’Brien said:
“I’m not upset about it, but I can tell you this — my rank-and-file members who have been lifelong Democrats are not happy about it,” he says.
That may make a difference in November, but more to the point, it may make a difference in elections yet to come, unless the Democrats step away from the progressive, loony left.