Historian Explains The Significance Of The Teamsters President Speaking At The RNC

4 months ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," presidential historian Professor David Greenberg spoke about the Teamsters president speaking at the RNC.

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Transcript

00:00You mentioned appealing to working-class voters, and I am thinking about the Teamsters president

00:07who spoke at the RNC.

00:09And as we talk about history that's been made this week, this is perhaps more of a policy

00:13wonk piece of history, but that has never happened.

00:18You normally hear union and you think DNC, if anyone's going to speak at a convention.

00:23Can you put into perspective the significance of the Teamsters appearing at the RNC?

00:30Yeah, well, back in the 70s and even maybe the late 60s a little bit was when you first

00:37saw this drift of the working class from Democratic to Republican.

00:42And I believe George Meany, I forget if he was the head of Teamsters or AFL-CIO, endorsed

00:50Nixon.

00:51So there was some precedent back then.

00:56And then in the 90s, Bill Clinton won back labor.

01:01Labor was big in Bill Clinton's corner.

01:03You know, anyone who remembers sort of the anti-impeachment rallies remember these big

01:08beefy union guys coming with their pre-made signs.

01:13So labor kind of came back to the Democratic fold.

01:17But while the leadership of labor did, you know, ordinary working class voters, many

01:24of whom were no longer in unions, actually, because unions have been getting progressively

01:30weaker for many decades as we no longer have an industrial economy, which is sort of what

01:36unions were for.

01:38So, you know, there's some suggestion that Sean O'Brien might be sort of following his

01:45base rather than leading them.

01:47That as these voters are just, you know, more pro-Trump, they just have more conservative

01:53views on all kinds of social issues, immigration, gender, race, you know, it makes sense for

02:00their leaders to say, you know, I want you to, you know, I'm going to stick with you

02:04and where your political priorities are.

Historian Explains The Significance Of The Teamsters President Speaking At The RNC

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