The head of the powerful Michigan Teamsters joint council vowed that “sociopath” Donald Trump cannot win his state, hours after the national union’s stunning decision to cast a no-endorsement vote that Donald Trump hailed as a victory.
“Our phones have been ringing off the hook all night about what the hell they did,” Michigan Teamsters President Kevin Moore told DailyMail.com amid intrigue over what the split could mean for one of the election’s key electoral prizes.
“This sociopath Donald Trump cannot survive in Michigan,” he said.
He said the state’s 243,000 members would work hard to elect Democrat Kamala Harris and raised questions about the polling cited by the national union in support of General President Sean O’Brien’s measure voted on by the executive committee.
On Wednesday night, Trump called the move a “great honor” and his campaign touted “union workers’ support” for Trump.
“The former president ‘lies to America. He hates women. He’s a womanizer. He’s a self-proclaimed billionaire and the only reason he wants to get into the Oval Office is to get out of all these lawsuits he’s gotten himself into. He’s an embarrassment to the office of the president,'” Moore said, in angry language that reflected divisions within the union over the presidential election.
Michigan Teamsters President Kevin Moore called Donald Trump a “sociopath” and said the state’s Teamsters would work to elect Kamala Harris
O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention. The union has not endorsed a Republican since 1988.
“I can’t answer for his decision,” he said of O’Brien’s decision. “I just know that I control Michigan with 245,000 votes in Michigan, and with all the work in Michigan our job is to stop (Trump) in Michigan.
He did not accept the polling data released by the union, which showed the rank and file chose Trump over Harris by 60-34 percent. He said it was drawn from too small a sample.
“That can be spun any number of ways,” he said. “Here in Michigan, Kamala Harris polled overwhelmingly,” he said, citing the 72-28 figure.
Other local unions and joint councils also announced their support for Harris, including a council president from Wisconsin and one representing Southern California and Southern Nevada.
“I’m confident that Pennsylvania in the near future is going to do exactly what we’re doing here in Michigan,” Moore predicted, referring to the state that has emerged as the key 2024 prize.
Sean O’Brien (C), general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announced the union’s surprise decision not to issue any endorsements, prompting unions in the battleground states to issue their own endorsements.
The Teamsters union is not endorsing either candidate, representing a political victory for former President Donald Trump.
Vice President Harris had sought the group’s endorsement, though the union boss did not speak at its convention after addressing Trump’s.
Craig McClaine, who repairs trucks at the GM assembly plant, said autoworkers support both Trump and Harris.
Tom, a sanitation worker at the plant, said “something has to change” in the economy.
The plant is “trying to get us working as often as we can,” Zack LaFond said, a good sign about the economy. He says he will likely support Harris. “I’ll probably decide on the day” of the election, he said.
“The extensive survey of union members did not show majority support for Vice President Harris or universal support among members for President Trump,” the national Teamsters union said in a statement Wednesday.
The national union’s surprise move shook up a race in a state where Harris has held a slim lead in the polls but where Trump has a chance to end her presidential dreams with victories in “blue wall” states that have flipped parties.
Harris has secured the support of nine of the 10 major unions and is counting on groups like the UAW, with its 12.5 million members, to boost turnout.
At Flint Assembly, General Motors’ oldest plant in North America, autoworkers say Trump is reaching a threshold of support that the former president sought to boost with a visit to the area on Tuesday.
“People on our side are pretty tight-lipped about who they vote for. On the Trump side, we’ve got a lot of people here who like him, although I don’t think he’s had the same success with the middle class as he has with the wealthy,” said Craig McClaine, a truck repairman who has worked at the plant for nearly 30 years.
He spoke after the 7 a.m. shift change at the plant, which runs around the clock for most of the week, recalling how Trump swept into office with an Electoral College victory by prevailing in states like Michigan even as he lost the popular vote overall.
“And then Biden beats him up (in 2020), and then he starts crying because the mail-in ballots came in overnight. Well, I work nights. People do things at night, you know? A vote is a vote. Well, it doesn’t matter what time of day it comes in,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who support him,” said Paul, a maintenance worker who has been at the plant for 15 years and who did not want to give his last name and who tries “not to bring politics into the workplace.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s 50-50,” but Trump “definitely has some support here, which is a little surprising, knowing his stance on unions and how he’s been with them,” he said.
Tom, a janitor at the plant, has struggled to make ends meet while caring for a teenager with special needs. “Something has to change,” he said.
“And now since Biden’s in there, not that I’m totally against some Democrats, but since they’re in there, I’m about to lose my fucking home of 18 years, and you want me to smile and say, Bidenomics is working?” he said.