Time Magazine has a great piece out about U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D. OH) and his ongoing battle to protect America’s manufacturing arm and push this country to make more American made products. The piece highlights that while Trump shares the message, Brown doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk:
President Donald Trump talks a lot about his “America First” policies. As president, he’s called for boycotts of companies that send production overseas, imposed tariffs intended to protect American manufacturers and launched a trade war with China.
But when it comes time to get dressed, the president has long favored Italian suits.
For Sen. Sherrod Brown, who shares Trump’s skepticism of free trade deals, a similar commitment to American manufacturing begins with the clothes he wears every day.
The Ohio Democrat buys all of his suits from the Keystone Tailored Manufacturing plant located about ten miles away from his Cleveland-area home. The factory sews and assembles suits for seven different lines, including Hart Schaffner Marx, Brown’s favorite brand.
Twice, he’s helped in negotiations that kept the Brooklyn, Ohio, factory afloat amid concerns of shrinking profit margins and broader trends to outsource manufacturing to countries where labor is cheaper. The most recent deal, from which W. Diamond Group purchased the facility to continue producing American-made suits, saved the jobs of more than 160 workers.
“One of the real joys of this job was the day I walked into the plant where I have had a real role in keeping these people employed,” Brown said in a recent interview with TIME.
It’s not just clothes, either. Brown’s family cars and even the lapel pin he wears on his union-made suits are also from Ohio.
Brown told TIME that he thinks that politicians who have platforms committed to buy-American policies, such as the president, should also walk the walk when it comes downs to their own clothes.
Although he is a liberal Democrat who differs from Trump on a number of issues, Brown has long held similar views about protecting domestic manufacturing. He has introduced bipartisan legislation to apply buy-America rules to all taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects. He’s also reintroduced the All-American Flag Act, which requires the federal government only buy flags that are American-made. As of yet, the federal government is only required to purchase flags made from 50% American-made materials.
This is the true blue populists Ohio loves. Whereas this is the candidate the Fake Populist-In-Chief backs free-trade supporting lobbyist:
The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that Ohiovoters should hold Rep. Jim Renacci accountable for attempting to distance himself as a candidate for U.S. Senate from his record of supporting so-called "free" trade agreements throughout his congressional career.
Renacci repeatedly voiced support for expanding foreign trade while thousands of Ohio manufacturing workers, their families and communities were suffering the consequences of illegally dumped steel and steel products.
He voted in favor of agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that shipped Ohio jobs overseas and twice voted to grant trade promotion authority to participate in negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership irrespective of the unfair trade practices that result in such weakly worded agreements.
USW District 1 Director David McCall said that union members will not be fooled by Renacci's transparent and half-hearted attempts to cash in on the Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs with Ohio voters.
Let’s send some real populism back to Ohio by ushering in the Big Blue Wave. Click below to donate and get involved with Brown and his fellow Ohio Democrats’ campaigns:
Danny O’Connor (D. OH-12) (Special Election in August)