Leaders in the Big Apple’s blue-collar trade unions are beginning to publicly air their grievances with President Joe Biden and hinting that their support may go to former President Donald Trump this November.
Newsmax caught up with Steamfitters Local 638 president Bobby Bartels after he met privately with the former president at Trump Tower, where he said he had a chance to discuss some of the most pressing issues for his members, including immigration, crime, and high prices.
“In the past, we are basically Democrats, all of us. And after what’s happened the last 4 years in this country, Democrats are basically pushing everybody to the other side,” he said according to RealClearPolitics. “We are a very patriotic group and we love our country and we want the best for America.”
“We are tired of immigration, we are tired of our tax dollars going to immigration, we are tired of the crime, we need to put a handle back on things in this country,” Bartels said.
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On Thursday morning, Bartels told a local Fox affiliate: “I put out a poll in my union. President Trump is leading Joe Biden 3 to 1 in my presidential poll out of my 9,000 members.”
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New York union leader Bobby Bartels after meeting with Trump in NYC:
“We are basically Democrats— all of us. [But] after what’s happened the last 4 years in this country, Democrats have basically pushed everybody to the other side.” pic.twitter.com/VQLAJAGcGL
— Addison Smith (@AddisonSmithTV) April 25, 2024
Chants of “USA! USA!” broke out among the crowd of hundreds of union workers as President Trump stepped out of his vehicle to meet with Bartels and others.
“It was great to see the former president come out and engage with the blue-collar workers of New York City. We basically built New York. The union movement has built the middle class. We are a very patriotic union and we love America,” he added.
𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: Former President Donald Trump is issued a very warm welcome by union workers at a construction site in New York City.
A local union manager Bob Bartels told Fox News that Donald Trump is beating President Joe Biden 3 to 1 in a poll the union conducted from its 9,000… pic.twitter.com/QtaR2tO6wk
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) April 25, 2024
Similar defections by unions against President Biden have been felt in Michigan, Ohio, and other working-class enclaves where elitist electric vehicle mandates have threatened to shutter factories and throw hundreds out of work. Earlier this year, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien publicly met with Trump while his union provided the Republican National Committee with a $45,000 donation, the first in decades.
“Such an interesting meeting with the Teamsters,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following the sit-down. “They should go with Trump, rather than a guy who can’t put two sentences together, or find the stairs from a stage. I will stop illegal immigration, which will Save the Teamsters. Biden will only make it worse!”
The eruptive reception of Trump comes just one day after President Biden announced an endorsement by the Building Trades Union, who thanked the Democrat for his infrastructure law and promised to marshal their 250,000 behind him.
During remarks at the union’s Washington conference on Wednesday, Biden made an unusually aggressive reference to physical violence against his Republican rival.
“Think about the guys you grew up with who you’d like to get into a corner and just give them a straight left,” Biden told the crowd, quickly adding. “I’m not suggesting we hit the president.”