Teamsters will withhold endorsement

heelinhell said:
A Trump supporter talking with Tucker Carlson... Maybe it's an accurate account, but I have my doubts.
Click to expand...
Bingo. Need to hear the other side of the story to better understand the situation. O'Brien may not even be flat out lying but mischaracterizing or omitting important context. Or maybe he's being completely truthful. No way to know based on that video clip but I'm certainly not taking this information at face value given the interviewer and interviewee.
 
Paine said:
Wasn’t aware of the previous story about him and AOC before I posted that.

If he’s not lying, it’s concerning. The story is believable based on what we’ve learned about the Harris campaign since 11/5.
Click to expand...
there is zero % chance that kamala blew off the teamsters.

that guy is a confirmed liar, and plus he's a MAGA so why would you trust him? his motive is obvious. most of the locals did not support his decision. he is throwing blame elsewhere.
 
JCTarheel82 said:
Bingo. Need to hear the other side of the story to better understand the situation. O'Brien may not even be flat out lying but mischaracterizing or omitting important context. Or maybe he's being completely truthful. No way to know based on that video clip but I'm certainly not taking this information at face value given the interviewer and interviewee.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing the context tells the tale...

Kamala laughs saying "you guys better endorse me"

Kamala laughs saying " I'm gonna win with you or without you"

I imagine her remarks were all in fun pokes rather than a wicked arrogant warning...

Either way, O'Brien is a MAGA Trump suck up...
 
and about those round table meetings with candidates that involved the rank and file teamsters...

The 14-member Teamsters board could not bring itself to endorse either candidate. But Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect reports that eight rank and filers who were invited to attend the board’s meetings with Harris, Trump, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. felt differently. They all said they were for Harris. The text of the non-endorsement makes proud reference to these rank and filers’ participation, referring to the union’s interrogations as “rank-and-file roundtable interviews” and “rank-and-file presidential roundtables.” But no word is mentioned that these emissaries from the real world told the board to endorse Harris, and that the board ignored them. The fix was in.
 
heelinhell said:
I'm guessing the context tells the tale...

Kamala laughs saying "you guys better endorse me"

Kamala laughs saying " I'm gonna win with you or without you"

I imagine her remarks were all in fun pokes rather than a wicked arrogant warning...

Either way, O'Brien is a MAGA Trump suck up...
Click to expand...
I could definitely see her saying something like, "We think we're going to win either way, but we'd rather have you on our side." That would still exhibit confidence while still going after the endorsement. But if someone were looking to turn that into something more nefarious, they could.
 
It sounds possible. Kamala answered three questions but what, forgot to answer the others? The questions could have been tough ones that would handcuff her domestic policy and/or could have put her at odds with her major donors. Maybe she thought outspending her opponent by half a billion might be more important for her winning than an endorsement that may not hold that much sway with the members.

I do think all the major unions should have been full throated supporters of Harris. The teamsters in particular got that huge UPS contract with Biden's help but they weren't the only ones. There was union momentum that the unions could have built on and Harris could have helped with. The non endorsement gives them at best a Trump that isn't actively mad at them and maybe some help with truckers from Mexico competing with them. At worst, they will get union unfriendly regulations and rulings from the department of Labor.
 
Paine said:
He’s not a “MAGA.” I don’t trust him, really. I’m saying it sounds believable based on confirmed reports about the Harris campaign.
Click to expand...
What makes you say OBrien is not MAGA?

One of my in-laws is a career union rep for the Teamsters and that's precisely how he describes him.

The actual description was "an insufferable Joe Rogan MAGA cunt".
 
Last edited:
Paine said:
He’s insufferable, bombastic, etc. I agree with that. I just don’t see how he’s “MAGA.” What policy positions does he hold that make him MAGA?

I don’t really associate trade unionism with MAGA. I guess it’s a pliable definition, but I tend to associate the word with Trump’s core base of support. O’Brien is the type of person who would’ve been squarely within the Democratic coalition 20, even 10, years ago.

Don’t think it’s useful to just call anyone amendable to working with Trump “MAGA.” What specifically makes him MAGA? Seems like a useless descriptor.

Helps to be specific about the issues with O’Brien, of which there are many.

jacobin.com

A Return to Gompers

Teamster president Sean O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National Convention may represent a return to nonpartisan realpolitik for unions. But does that reflect labor's strength or its decline?
jacobin.com jacobin.com
Click to expand...
anyone intent on effacing the effect of race, ethnicity and gender on the working class will find it hard to explain sean obrien. those of us who foreground those elements find sean obrien easy to explain. im not necessarily addressing you, btw,. that article didnt even use the word race and referred to black people precisely once (in a parenthetical). there was a nod to the problem in the anodyne, both-siding comment that:

As workers within the labor movement have become severely divided along cultural and political lines,

I dont think every single article has to analyze race all the time. but if you are going to include this type of consideration, it seems almost like misinformation to omit the factors causing those divisions among cultural and political lines. and it is hard to have solidarity in the face of that.

i know you heard billy bragg's response to the rich men north of richmond song. i'm not a big billy bragg fan but i quite like it. and in it, he addresses the "fudge rounds" line in the original by referring to solidarity. thats nice and all, but the fudge rounds attitude is prevalent and billy bragg cant make it go away.
 
Paine said:
Yeah, I don’t find O’Brien difficult to explain at all. Understanding you weren’t necessarily specifically referencing how I approach politics.

My approach to social life and politics centers class and subjugates culture to class, but it doesn’t ignore culture or discount it unlike the approach of some leftists after the cultural turn.
Click to expand...
I think there is a fair amount of X politician has supporters that are ...ist therefore anyone who supports X politician must also be ...ist. I think its a lazy way to think about anyone that would dare to support a politician they didn't vote for. Until someone shows me a quote of O'Brien being racist or sexist or misogynistic or communist or fascist or even MAGA, I'm going to assume he's not.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top