Disaffected working-class white voters are seen as one of Donald Trump’s areas of strength, but the union movement plans to push back hard on Trump’s claims. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, described some of the labor federation’s plans to the New York Times, including a focus on Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—six states that will not only be battlegrounds in the presidential race, but where there are competitive downballot races. As for Trump:
“He doesn’t appeal to the Sanders voters, because all of his solutions are at the other end of the spectrum, with one exception, and that’s trade,” Mr. Trumka said of Mr. Trump’s plans to address the economy. [...]
“He thinks our wages are too high. He thinks outsourcing is great. He thinks Carl Icahn will be a great Treasury secretary,” Mr. Trumka said of the activist investor. “There are still workers who remember all the jobs that Icahn destroyed.”
Trumka, who in 2008 made a powerful appeal to union members to reject racism and vote for Barack Obama on the basis of policy, today says that Donald Trump’s appeal to racial division is “not good for this country.”