US Presidential Polls: UAW Leader Suggests Trump Is On Track To Victory Over Biden
Amid the fallout from Biden’s June debate debacle, the UAW leader told the crowd of progressive activists it was necessary to face uncomfortable facts. (Photo: Bloomberg)
By Josh Eidelson
United Auto Workers Chairman Shawn Fain suggested that Donald Trump is on track to defeat Joe Biden in November, warning Democrats of a catastrophic repeat of their 2016 election defeat unless they face the “hard truth.”
“We are speaking truth to those who need it most and that is the Democratic Party,” Fain said Friday at the Netroots Nation conference in Baltimore, urging people to “not bury our heads in the sand and hide from reality — we tried that in 2016 and it didn’t work.”
Fain is one of the nation’s most influential labor leaders, and he gave Biden a long-awaited, effusive endorsement in January, lending support to the president’s re-election campaign. While Fain did not directly address Biden’s debate performance or the calls to replace him on the ticket, his comments indicate concern within the union about the president’s prospects in November.
Amid the fallout from Biden’s June debate debacle, the UAW leader told the crowd of progressive activists it was necessary to face uncomfortable facts.
“We’ve seen it before: we saw in 2016 that people were just trying to roll with the punches and hope for the best, knowing that we weren’t going to make it,” Fain said. “And we’re seeing it again, though few people are willing to talk about it: The truth is that the billionaire class and the corporate class have the working class on the ropes, and they’re poised, through their messiah Donald Trump, to deliver a fatal blow, and our political system is set up to allow that to happen.”
Fain did not mention Biden by name, but he did praise the president’s record on labor issues.
“We have a president in the White House who wants to support the working class, and we’ve made incredible gains over the last three and a half years,” he said. In contrast, Fain added, Trump would be “a complete disaster for the working class.”
Fain spoke on a day when Biden campaigned in Michigan, where the union is headquartered.
Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement Friday night that he is a “champion for working people over greedy corporations. That’s why our campaign has 33 unions endorsing us — it reflects Joe Biden’s track record of delivering results for working families.”
Biden has emphasized his support for unions as he tries to fend off pressure to drop out of the presidential race. The AFL-CIO announced Wednesday that its executive council, which includes Fain, had voted unanimously to “reaffirm its commitment” to re-electing Biden, saying in a statement that he has led “the most pro-union administration in our lifetime.”
But Fain raised concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump during a UAW board meeting on Thursday, according to people familiar with the conversation. Reuters previously reported on Fain’s personal reservations.
When a reporter asked Biden about Fain’s concerns at his press conference on Thursday, the president interrupted: “The UAW just supported me, but go ahead.”
A UAW spokesman declined to comment Friday.
First print: Jul 13, 2024 | 09:20 AM IST