A few days ago, I pointed out that President Trump had "hammered a bloody great splitting maul between the Democratic Party and its generations-old, lock-step partner, the trades union movement in the USA".
That splitting sound you hear is the beginning of a cleavage that may well chop away previously rock-solid union support for the Democratic Party. Union members know on which side their bread is buttered. Their leaders know that if they don't provide, and work for, and agitate in support of, that butter, their own futures are toast - unbuttered toast, at that.
. . .
You just saw, felt and heard a metaphorical earthquake, one that may very well reshape the US political map for generations to come. All the left's favorite causes - immigration, climate change, entitlement programs, Obamacare, whatever - pale into insignificance, in the minds of union voters, before the harsh reality of "I need a well-paid job to put food on the table for my family - and President Trump is insisting that my needs be given priority - and he's got $1 trillion to do just that." If they follow the money, as I believe many of them will, the Democratic Party has just suffered a body blow from which it may not recover for decades, if at all. What's more, the Republican Party may be transformed in a very few years from the (perceived) party of wealth, privilege and neocons, to the (real) workers' party of America. Wouldn't that be a turn-up for the books?
There's more at the link.
Just two days later, we read this in the New York Post. (How interesting that we don't read it in Democratic Party-supporting news media . . . not that we should be surprised by their deafening silence, of course.)
‘Will we partner with [President Trump]? Absolutely.”
These words were spoken not by a conservative Republican, but AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka — America’s most prominent labor leader and a Hillary Clinton backer.
Describing President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday as “one of his finest moments,” Trumka recently reaffirmed his support for the president’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, renegotiated trade agreements and other pro-worker policies. The union leader famously met with Trump prior to his inauguration and is expected to attend regular meetings with the new White House.
. . .
Transcending party lines, a Trump-Trumka tandem can simultaneously encourage bipartisanship on Capitol Hill and pursue common-sense reforms to strengthen the US workforce — securing both construction jobs and workplace rights.
. . .
Trumka’s alignment with a Trump White House is significant in that it can soften the partisan blowback to a Republican environmental agenda.
In 2016, the AFL-CIO donated over $16 million to Democratic campaigns — more than 2008 and 2012 combined — and helped launch a $50 million super PAC to elect liberal candidates in 2018 and beyond. As a top financial backer of the party infrastructure, the AFL-CIO is in a unique position to rally Democrats behind the Trump agenda and support job creation.
The same can be said of the president’s $1 trillion plan to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure, which Trump claims will create “millions of new jobs,” and fairer trade with China, both top priorities for Trumka.
Again, more at the link.
"That splitting sound you hear" is getting louder and louder - at least, it is to my ears.
I concluded my earlier article by saying:
I wouldn't be at all surprised if, right now, a large number of Democratic Party strategists are collectively peeing vinegar and passing bloody great cinder-blocks at the very thought [of a trade union alliance with President Trump]. I suspect a number of neocons and pseudo-intellectuals in the Republican Party, and a large part of the American establishment, are doing likewise.
I can only suggest that they upgrade their plumbing, and make sure the sewers serving their premises are in good order. At this rate, they're going to need both, for a long time to come!
Peter
Hmmmm....
ReplyDeleteIf I was the leader of a bunch of workers and the president came along and said he had a TRILLION dollars to help us out....
Well hell yes I'd say nice things about him. Publicly switching sides overnight is a lot easier when the reward for jumping ship is hundreds of billions of dollars.
And so it is with Mr. Union Bigshot. Doesn't mean a damned thing about his real loyalties or objectives.
Smoke and mirrors.... Don't be so easy.
LOL, shoulda bought a lottery ticket too! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe district where I was working as a teacher was represented by a union. Six months after being hired, I was eligible for the "Best and Brightest" bonus being paid by the state. my employer tried to deny that bonus. When I fought it, the Union gave me no support, I had to fight it on my own. I got the bonus with NO help from the union whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteThree months later, I was physically attacked in my classroom by a 17 year old student who was angry at me. The union did almost nothing to help in the aftermath of that incident. I wound up quitting because I did not feel safe.
During the time all of this was going on, I received dozens of letters an emails urging me to vote for Democrats. It seems as though that is all they are good for.
One caveat is that the union bosses are only in it for what they can gain, and that may not be exactly what the rank and file wants or needs. They may make nice faces about working with Trump now, but I doubt that it will make a dent in the truckloads of cash they will continue to syphon off from union dues toward liberal causes and candidates in 2018 or 2020.
ReplyDeleteSeems like an easy choice. Do you support the guy who is working to secure your jobs or the Party that is working to put a pervert in the restroom with your little girl?
ReplyDeleteMight one guess at the melanin content of the skin on that "17 year old student", Divemedic? One suspects that said "student" was a Preferred Species.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, it isn't the skin color which causes such acts. It is instead the "culture" embraced by the owner of that skin. But one surely by now knows how the smart money bets when any such interaction is stated.