It’s more bad behavior from Herr Trump’s alt-right goon squad.
Personally, I have little sympathy for unions. I’m pretty sure that’s a Yankee concept. That being said, we’ve got shades of Jimmy Hoffa hovering overhead, as a dust-up between Carrier’s union boss and Tweet Master Trump brews into something ugly.
Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers local 1999, which represents workers at Indianapolis’s Carrier manufacturing plant, said Trump “lied his ass off” about terms of a deal to keep jobs in the state.
After Trump blasted Jones in a tweet, Jones received calls from people threatening to come for him and asking what kind of car he drives, he told MSNBC, according to the Associated Press.
“Nothing that says they’re gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids,” Jones said.
“I’ve been doing this job for 30 years, and I’ve heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me. So I take it with a grain of salt and I don’t put a lot of faith in that, and I’m not concerned about it and I’m not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on.”
That’s how I would handle it, actually.
What are the concealed carry laws in Indiana, by the way?
We know that to Trump’s loyalists, media, statistics, anything resembling iron-clad data or truth is rejected until Trump tweets it out. Large factions of those loyalists then react in the most base, unhinged way possible.
Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
We are in a post-truth America.
Carrier will keep 730 jobs in the state after receiving $7 million in tax breaks from the state, but 550 jobs will still go to Mexico. The Trump campaign originally touted that more than 1,000 jobs would stay in Indiana.
“A lot of people at that point in time thought they were going to have a job,” Jones said early Thursday on CNN.
“They did not mention anything about 550 jobs here in Indiana going to Mexico.”
And this is the truth that Trump reacted to in his tweets, which, in turn, set off his followers.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first we’ve heard of Trump’s tribe going gonzo.
I doubt it will be the last.
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