Instead of attending last night’s debate over which unpopular loser would make a better vice presidential candidate, Donald Trump decided instead to speak at Drake Enterprises, a small parts supplier in Michigan’s Clinton Township that is notably not unionized. Somehow, that got spun into a few stories and posts about Trump speaking to union members, which is only true in the sense that some people at the event claimed to be union members. We have no real reason to doubt them, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a delusional moron if you think Trump is in any way pro-union.
Now, it’s not surprising that some UAW members are also Trump voters. His support among voters without college degrees is scarily high, and you can probably find a few MAGA chuds in pretty much any industry. It would also be understandable if they focused on how excited they were for Trump to hurt the people they hate, which is basically his whole schtick. Yeah, he’ll probably gut worker protections, make it harder for workers to unionize and make it easier for the rich to continue getting richer, but you can also guarantee that if he’s elected again, he’ll make life hell for queer people, women and racial minorities, which is what bigots care about most.
But no. They seem to think he’s actually on their side. Take Mark Curneal, who claimed to have worked in the industry for 26 years and also be a UAW member, for example. He told the Washington Post, “Three years later we’re worse off than before Biden was installed, and yes you can quote me that the election was stolen. Trump says he supports workers. If he didn’t support me, he wouldn’t be here.” Sorry, buddy. The guy just wants your votes. He’ll say and do anything to get elected, and being president again may be the only chance he has of avoiding prison time.
Back in 2016, it was more understandable for voters to delude themselves into thinking Trump cared about workers. He hadn’t been president yet, so no one really knew what he would do. A lot of us had a pretty good idea, but even those who knew he would be a disaster couldn’t say for sure exactly how bad he would end up being. But after four years of the Trump administration, we now have a mountain of evidence showing that he’s not just a bad person but also incredibly anti-worker.
While the Biden administration has worked to make it easier for workers to unionize, the Trump administration did the opposite, giving management more time to spread anti-union propaganda after a union files for representation. In 2018, the Trump-aligned Supreme Court ruled against public sector unions. Plus, there are all the anti-worker judges he nominated, as well as the myriad changes he made to weaken worker protections changing overtime rules to favor businesses, gut the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, reward companies who send jobs overseas and so much more.
To anyone with basic reading comprehension skills, it’s clear that Trump is anti-worker and anti-union. And a lot of Republicans love that, especially business owners. But if you think for a second that Trump actually supports the UAW or unions in general, you’re a delusional moron. The only unions Trump is ever going to help out are police unions. But hey, at least he’ll probably hurt the people that UAW Trump supporters hate even more.