27) Trump is a Fake Populist (Part 3) – On Workers’ Rights

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Reason #27 to Vote Blue on Nov 5

In “Reason #25,” I argued that Trump is deceiving many in the middle class who think he is on their side. He is not a populist. In “Reason 26” I mentioned one way to identify a real populist is the tax test; candidates that prefer mainly progressive taxes (like the graduated income tax) instead of regressive taxes (like sales taxes or tariffs) and also prefer to increase the rate of taxation for those at the highest income levels, are probably populists.

Another way to identify a real populist is this: candidates that promote union membership and defend union rights are more likely to support what the middle class needs. 

If you remember anything about unions in American history, it should be this: middle class growth is tied to union growth (because the benefits gained by union members spill over to non-union members).

As Robert Reich points out above, in the 1950s, almost a third of the workforce was unionized. But corporate leaders and GOP ideologues began to unleash a torrent of opposition. That, combined with other economic factors brought about a gradual decrease in union membership, and with that, a shrinking of middle class incomes for everyone.

Biden, Harris, and Walz have been and are strongly pro-union. United Auto Workers (UAW) union president Shawn Fain said on August 7, 2024:

“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class. … We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris, who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.” 

On, August 13, Walz told a union audience in Los Angeles that the Democratic ticket would prioritize worker-friendly policies. Walz and Harris come from working-class backgrounds, he said, noting that Harris worked at McDonald’s as a student.  Walz, who was a union member as a public school teacher in Minnesota before he won a U.S. House seat in 2006, praised the policies Harris championed as part of Biden’s administration, and those he pushed as Minnesota governor.

Harris led the administration’s work to eliminate barriers to organizing and cast the tiebreaking vote in the U.S. Senate to pass the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in 2021 that Walz said kept public-sector workers employed during the pandemic. As governor, Walz said he made it easier to form unions and strengthened worker protections. Both Walz and Harris have walked on picket lines with striking workers, he said.

On the other hand, Trump and Vance are very anti-union. Coincidentally, the night before Walz spoke to union members, Trump was interviewed by his super wealthy campaign benefactor, Elon Musk. Both of them were laughing as Trump said of workers: “They go on strike, …and you say, ‘You’re gone.'” In other words they think it’s funny, but it is illegal to fire a worker for striking. It was also illegal when Musk, in 2018, threatened Tesla workers about joining a union, by taking away their stock options. Click the link to hear it:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/w_zJCwwhxJY

Yes, some union members have bought Trump’s rhetoric of fear regarding migrants and are supporting him becauase of that. But make no mistake, Trump is a friend of corporatists, not workers. I listened to a 2017 Trump speech to building trades workers in 2017. In the entire 25 minute speech of platitudes there was no word supporting worker rights. If you have the patience, listen to his generalizing platitudes here:

Trump did tell his listeners how he was going to have a big infrastructure bill that would provide many jobs. As we all know he never did it. But Biden made it happen. It takes competence to be the Chief Executive of the country; you have to know how to get things done. Trump is not that person for many reasons.

As you have heard, the Christian Nationalists have a plan for the next Trump administration called Project 2025. It has 900 pages of recommendations; of that, there are 35 pages of recommendations to be implemented in just the Department of Labor. Basically, the recommendations would make workers subservient to company demands without union protections. Plus, it is weird to read strange proposals relevant to “our Christian-Judeo heritage” at least 3 times directly, and very much all of it indirectly. (Many pages, for example are devoted to building the supremacy of the family unit. Apparently concerns about corporations ruining families by failing to empower workers through unions enshrined in the Wagner and other laws, is not relevant to these ideologues.)

But let’s get back to Donald J. Trump – the man. The man who wants to be our Chief Executive again. The man who wants workers to trust him and vote for him. The man who boasts about the millions he made in Atlantic City at the expense of investors (who lost big) and many vendors (who were never paid for their work). Is this really a man that workers (union or otherwise) can trust to do what is best for THEM?

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