What the Hell Was Teamsters’ President Thinking With That RNC Speech?

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien praised Donald Trump as an ally for the working class and “one tough SOB,” in a strange speech at the Republican National Convention Monday.

The president of America’s largest and most diverse union  became the first Teamster in its 121-year history to address the RNC—and used that opportunity to elevate the former president.

“I think we all can agree, whether people like him or they don’t like him, in light of what happened to him on Saturday, he has proven to be one tough SOB,” said the Teamster president, speaking about the assassination attempt on Trump.

O’Brien’s choice to speak at the convention and praise Trump sets him apart from other labor leaders. Nearly all major labor unions have endorsed Joe Biden for the 2024 election, with the AFL-CIO endorsing Biden 17 months before the general election. O’Brien acknowledged the controversy he is stirring in the union movement saying, “I don’t care about getting criticized.”

“I refuse to keep doing the same things my predecessors did,” O’Brien said in a speech that criticized both parties. “Today the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party. We will create an agenda and work with a bipartisan coalition ready to accomplish something real for the American worker.”

Trump, of course, has worked against workers’ interests at every turn—molding the National Labor Relations Board in his image, vetoing the Protect Right to Organizing Act, and restricting overtime pay, wage increases, and health and safety protections. Compare that to Biden, who in 2022 signed the Butch Lewis Act, saving the pensions of nearly 350,000 of O’Brien’s Teamsters membership.

Teamsters’ vice president at large, John Palmer, told Mother Jones last week that members are split when it comes to the 2024 election, with straw polls showing 46 percent supporting Biden and around 37 percent supporting Trump. Palmer has also openly criticized O’Brien’s budding relationship with Trump, writing that speaking at the RNC “only normalizes and makes the most anti-union party and President I’ve seen in my lifetime seem palatable.”