Even though the United Steelworkers union endorsed Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris, many of its members showed up for former President Donald Trump's rally Monday night in Pittsburgh.
"Those guys back there," Trump said, pointing at spectators wearing hard hats behind him at PPG Arena, "I took some pictures with a few of them, and they were hugging and kissing me. I [jokingly] said, get off me.
"Look at the size of those arms. They never kissed a man in their life. You know why? Because I put tariffs on China dumping steel in the United States, and every one of those guys is working now … and their steel plants are open. And I was just starting."
Unions typically have long been a key part of the Democrats' coalition, but several unions that backed President Joe Biden in 2020 have not backed Harris, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which passed on an endorsement in part after polling of its members showed more support for Trump, as did the International Association of Fire Fighters.
"The rank-and-file [steel union members] loves Trump," the former president said in a rally simulcast on the Newsmax2 streaming platform. "The other guys are sort of like there's something strange going on. But I don't care. It doesn't matter. I don't want the other guys; I just want these guys.
"The steel union, they were all going to go out of business. If I didn't put those tariffs on, there wouldn't be one steel plant in this country open, and that's a business we need. … It was a 50% tariff. I would have lifted it higher, but [China] practically stopped. And all these steel mills are open today because of what I did."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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