The Trump-Vance team 'phones it in' on Labor Day
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Labor Day has come and gone. So how did the presidential contenders and their running mates spent the traditional kickoff day for fall campaigns?
“Harris and Walz blitz the Blue Wall while Trump phones it in on Labor Day” read the headline on a Labor Day story in The Independent, a British paper.
The AFL-CIO-endorsed Democrats spoke at big rallies with union members. Team Trump was AWOL from the campaign trail.
“Trump nor his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, were set to have any public events on Labor Day, despite the fact that both have tried to refashion the Republican Party as a pro-worker party," wrote The Independent's Eric Garcia. "Indeed, when Vance spoke at the International Firefighters conference, he was booed the day after Walz spoke to them and received a warm welcome."
Garcia also wrote that, according to UPI, Trump was supposed to host "a video call with current and retired members of the United Auto Workers." Like the AFL-CIO, the UAW has endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket. UAW President Shawn Fain was with Harris at the Detroit rally.
He also spoke at the Democratic National Convention, sporting a fire engine red "TRUMP IS A SCAB VOTE HARRIS" t-shirt. "For the UAW and for working-class people everywhere, this election comes down to one question: Which side are you on?," he said. "On one side, we have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who have stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class. On the other side, we have Trump and Vance, two lapdogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves. So, for us in the labor movement, it’s real simple. Kamala Harris is one of us. She’s a fighter for the working class. And Donald Trump is a scab!"
Harris and President Joe Biden delivered speeches to another large gathering in Pittsburgh. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz addressed a throng in Milwaukee.
Garcia quoted a statement from Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello: “Donald Trump is ditching workers on Labor Day because he is an anti-worker, anti-union extremist who will sell out working families for his billionaire donors if he takes power. Vice President Harris is the only candidate for president who stands firmly on the side of labor and working Americans, and she is fighting to build up the middle class by cutting taxes, lowering costs, and creating opportunity.”
“We’re known by the company we keep” is an old expression. Labor Day is more proof, as if were needed, that Trump and Vance prefer the company of what FDR called "malefactors of great wealth" to working folks, especially those of us who pack union cards.