Monday, September 25, 2023

Trump Forces Biden To Show Up At Autoworkers' Picket Line

Donald J. "Jackass" Trump operates on instinct. Thus much of what he does is impulsive. The vast majority of what he says are for an immediate advantage and represent no actual commitment. The amazing thing is that so many people fall for his obvious emotional manipulations year after year. They never learn from experience, or from facts. 


The UAW (United Auto Workers Union) is currently conducting a series of rolling strikes against the facilities of 3 car companies: General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler). Trump did what he so often does, opportunistically and completely insincerely pretending to side with the workers. (All his policies, his actual actions, while president, were pro-capital and anti-worker, just as his entire business career has been anti-worker, including wage theft and racial discrimination.) He has repeatedly manipulated various groups of workers this way. (Remember his loudly braying bullshit promises to coal miners?)
 

 

But merely spouting off and once again pretending to be a defender of the working class was enough to force president Joe Biden to schedule a trip to have his picture taken at a UAW picket line. (Previously the White House maintained a determined silence on the question of whether Biden would show up at a picket line in a display of solidarity.)


Biden has rebranded himself as "the most pro-union president in modern history." (Notice that qualifier, "modern history.") Given that U.S. presidents almost all represented capital, not labor, such a boast isn't saying much. In fact, just saying it makes him one of the most "pro-union" presidents in history. The only labor-management dispute he actually took action in, as opposed to just making pronouncements, was the railroads, in which he used Federal power to force the workers to swallow a crappy deal that still leaves them very overworked and with no right to sick days.

The current UAW head, Shawn Fain, is a genuine labor leader, not a self-serving, corrupt betrayer as so many union heads in the U.S. have been. He has no use for Trump, and Trump as usual with people who resist being his sycophants, verbally abuses Fain. Trump is supposed to go to Detroit (but not necessarily to a UAW picket line, where he won't have a controlled crowd who he can rely on to cheer him) on September 27. BIden is scheduled to beat him to the punch and join a UAW picket line for the media to document on September 26, to publicize his claim to being The Most Pro-Union President. (TM).


Another one of Biden's reelection shticks is "Bidenomics," whatever that is. Unfortunately for Biden and the Democrats, that buzzword isn't having the desired effect. Democratic politicians and Biden cabinet members publicly boast of Biden's legislative results and cite economic statistics constantly. So far it seems the public doesn't hear them. The latest poll has 30% of respondents approving of Biden's handling of the economy, 64% disapproving. [1] Which is unfair, since the president of the U.S. doesn't control the economy- the Federal Reserve, which sets interest rates, and Congress have far more effect on the economy.

Biden spent decades in the Senate spearheaiding legislation that harmed average Americans, especially the working class, to give more power and wealth to the finance industry- banks and credit card companies. He saw to it that by law, student debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. It can follow a person to the grave. 


He took the lead in pushing through draconian "anti-crime" laws that targeted the lower classes, especially African Americans, who he accused, in what should be an infamous speech on the Senate floor, of potentially hitting his mother in the head with a lead pipe. [2] He was a staunch opponent of so-called "forced busing," meaning school integration. His closest allies and avowed best friends in the Senate were the worst Southern segregationists.


And while mentioning The Crimes of Biden, we can't omit one of the worst things he did that has caused and is still causing lasting damage: the elevation to the Supreme Court of the mediocre, corrupt, bitter, extreme reactionary Clarence Thomas. As the Senator who chaired the Judiciary Committee for Thomas' confirmation hearings, Biden blocked corroborating witnesses for Anita Hill from testifying, and privately advised Democratic Senators not to believe Hill. This enabled Thomas to be narrowly confirmed by the Senate. [3] 

Regarding Thomas' corruption: he has received millions of dollars worth of favors and gifts from billionaires while a high court "Justice," which he kept secret. Thomas lives the life of a multimillionaire for free, courtesy of his billionaire patrons, whose economic interests he protects at the court.


 Invariably, I have noticed, extreme reactionaries and fascists are personally corrupt. Since they completely lack normal moral values and are unrestrained in their behavior, this seems  inevitable. Samuel Alito, the other most extreme reactionary on the tyrannical high court, has also been exposed as corrupt. We owe gratitude to ProPublica for exposing the venality of these two evil people.

But reactionary Democrats doing a political burlesque pretending to be progressives is typical of them. They are absolutely shameless about it. When he was Governor of New York state, the rightwing bully and sexual miscreant Andrew Cuomo once asserted that HE was the MOST progressive politician in the state!


In my experience, 99 times out of 100, when you scratch a liberal, you find a reactionary right under the surface.


1] ABC News/Washington Post poll just announced as of this writing.


2] See the video, "Biden's Racist Rant Promoting One of His Numerous Crime Bills," In the video, Biden refers to blacks as "they" and "them." I don't think he meant Albanians or Martians. To broaden and deepen your political and historical understanding, you need to view more videos at the Jason Zenith channel.

3] Biden's despicable role in Thomas' elevation to the dictatorial high court was documented years ago in the book "Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas," by Jane Mayer and  Jill Abramson. Both were reporters at The Wall Street Journal at the time.


Mayer went on to become a staff reporter at The New Yorker uber bourgeois magazine, and  Jill Abramson became the first female top editor at The New York Times, the self-styled power establishment "newspaper of record." So these two cannot be dismissed as leftwing "conspiracy theorists." And yet this information has been completely suppressed by "the" media, by simply never mentioning it. Thus another taboo truth. 


For a series of articles exposing the corruption of Thomas and Alito, go to the ProPublica website.

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