Oct 8, 2024
"They "F*%&ED Us!": Teamsters Prez SLAMS Democratic Party
Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien told Theo Von that a recent meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) got “fucking ugly.”
- 13 minutes
You know, these politicians, both sides,
Democrats and Republicans.
And I'll be honest with you,
I'm a Democrat, but they have fucked us
over for the last 40 years and for once,
and not all of them.
But for once,
we're standing up as a union.
Probably the only one right now saying,
what have you done for us?
[00:00:19]
Teamsters President Sean O'Brien
made an appearance on Theo Von's podcast
and talked a little bit about the state
of the Democratic Party as it pertains to
labor and real gains on behalf of labor.
And honestly,
for the first time for a long time,
[00:00:37]
you actually have a Union party leader
calling out the Democratic Party
for the way that they've been behaving
toward workers over the policies
that they have implemented or the policies
that they've refused to implement.
Now, I have kind of mixed views,
because I think one of the good things
[00:00:59]
about the Biden administration has been
the fact that he's been far more pro-labor
than previous administrations.
Certainly in my lifetime.
Yes, he squashed the rail workers strike,
but behind the scenes,
he got no credit for this, by the way,
behind the scenes, he worked to negotiate
to ensure that they got what they were
[00:01:16]
asking for, which was the paid time off.
So I wanted to give you that caveat,
but without further ado,
let's get to more of what he had to say.
And I'm getting attacked from the left.
You know, we've given since I've been
in office two and a half years.
We've given the Democratic machine
$15.7 million.
[00:01:34]
We've given Republicans about 340,000.
Truth be told.
So it's like, you know,
people say the Democratic Party
is the party of the working people.
They're bought and paid for by Big Tech.
That big, those big tech companies.
Yeah. Tech is the new fossil fuel man.
That's what I say, right?
And you've got the Republicans
who are now saying, hey, we want to be
[00:01:52]
the working class party, right?
And okay, you've got a great opportunity
right now to do that.
And the Democrats, if 60% of our members
aren't supporting support you.
- The system is broken.
- So I certainly agree with him on that.
[00:02:07]
And I've been kind of sad to see
the reaction from the Democratic Party
and Democratic voters
in regard to the Teamsters members,
and how 60% of them, based on two
separate polls, indicates that they
[00:02:22]
support Trump over Kamala Harris.
Now, I can understand if you think
that makes no sense, if you think that's
ridiculous, but you I think the Democratic
Party needs to try to figure out why do
these Teamsters members feel this way?
But instead, they're upset.
[00:02:38]
And a lot of the criticisms I've seen
have kind of focused on the belief
that these Teamsters members
are supporting Trump because they prefer
bigotry over real gains for workers.
I disagree with that take entirely. Well.
We have one of our members whose team we
have many, but the one that just wrote in
[00:02:56]
JMC and I want to give him the first word
and then I'll weigh in on it.
He said, as a teamster, I'm not upset.
O'Brien went on Theo Van's podcast, I'm
mad how the right and certain journalists
are twisting his words and creating
a BS narrative that isn't true.
So let me build on that.
First, thank you for being a member.
[00:03:14]
Appreciate you guys.
Hit the join button below
to become a member.
Be part of the show. So, That's right.
I think that the reason that he's right
is that the headlines I'm seeing is like,
as if Sean O'Brien and the Teamsters
are now fully pro-Trump, pro-Republican.
[00:03:31]
But wait a minute, they didn't endorse
Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
And if you watch the and listen to the
podcast, he said he's a lifelong Democrat
and he's just frustrated
that the Democrats are not delivering.
So I'm going to ask a rhetorical question,
but then I'll answer it.
[00:03:48]
So what do you want him to do, lie
to you and say the Democrats did deliver
when he knows that they didn't deliver?
Yes and yes. That's the answer.
And so every establishment Democrat says,
of course, of course, you should lie
and pretend the Democrats did things
that they did that they didn't do.
[00:04:04]
And they say that with all earnestness,
and they and they don't think
they're the bad guys for saying that.
They they're positive that they're
incredibly decent moral people
for asking that brother to lie.
Right?
Because they in their minds,
they think Trump is such an evil.
So anything to make sure
that he's defeated.
[00:04:19]
And hence you have to say nothing
but positive things about his opponents.
Know you're the much better
path is to be honest.
So people believe you, okay.
And that's what Sean O'Brien is doing.
He's being absolutely honest,
and I find him 10,
000 times more credible than any
Partizan hack who comes out
[00:04:36]
there with their talking
points that we've all already heard
spouting fake robotic BS. So thank you.
Sean O'Brien Sean O'Brien's role
as the head of the Teamsters union
is to represent the Teamsters
to represent their best interests,
[00:04:52]
and so I need to understand
from those individuals
who are going after him so viciously,
how do you expect
the Democratic Party to ever change,
to ever actually listen to the concerns
of working people in the country,
[00:05:08]
to actually go back to what they were
used to, what they used to be known as,
which is the party of FDR.
How do you expect any of that to happen?
If the Teamsters president
or any other labor union leader doesn't
call them out on what's been going on?
[00:05:23]
So let me give you the most obvious
example that the press never talks about
because it's inconvenient.
Okay.
The proact so and it's not just the proact
under the Biden administration.
Every Democrat in my lifetime has said,
oh, when we come in,
we're going to pass this pro-labor bill.
[00:05:39]
That's going to be our first priority on
day one, and none of them even propose it.
Right.
And the Pro act would allow for people
to organize their workplace
and form unions a little more easy
than what they're experiencing now in some
of these, like, right to work states.
[00:05:54]
To give you a sense of like, look, I don't
even agree with the entire pro act.
There's parts that I disagree with
and parts that I love, right?
But the point isn't the Democrats
should do what I want or what I like.
These guys have given you
millions and millions of dollars
[00:06:10]
out of their paychecks.
And I'm not talking about Sean O'Brien.
I'm talking about
the average teamster guy.
Okay? Here.
They take money out of his paycheck,
he goes to a union fund,
and they give it largely to Democrats.
So when you keep telling the Teamsters
and every other union that you're going
to do the pro act, or you're going
to pass a bill that helps labor,
[00:06:26]
and then you don't even try to do that.
Please spare me your BS.
And I and all the establishment Democrats
say no lie, lie, lie, no don't lie.
Thank you, Sean O'Brien, for not lying.
And you're never going to get them
to pass any of those bills
unless you hold them accountable.
[00:06:43]
If they think, oh, just take these suckers
money and I never deliver for them.
Well, they're never going
to listen to you.
Just like Israel never listens to us
because we give them infinite money,
total blank checks,
and we never hold them accountable.
This is easy, obvious logic, but the
next time they go to screw over union,
[00:07:00]
the Democrats, they might think, oh well,
we could lose the Teamsters,
and that's a couple of million dollars,
and that's this and that's that,
and that's a bunch of voters.
Now they got a little fear in their heart.
Good.
That's how democracy is supposed to work.
[00:07:16]
Exactly.
Because you don't want to put fear
in a politician's heart
about violence or physicality.
That's for losers.
Okay, but on consequence,
electoral consequences.
You want to put a lot of fear
in their heart.
You want them to think, well,
if I screw them over, I might not win.
[00:07:34]
Yes.
Otherwise, they're never,
ever going to deliver for you.
So sorry to all the other union leaders
whom I like a lot these days.
The union leaders have gone from totally
incompetent to like lions all of a sudden.
Right.
But among those, even though he's not,
he's the one not fighting Trump.
[00:07:50]
And I hate Trump.
I like Sean O'Brien the best now
because he's being the most honest
and using his leverage most effectively.
He's using his leverage.
And I think that's important,
especially during an election.
Okay.
So there's a final video
that I want to go to because O'Brien
decides to detail an interaction he had
with Democratic leadership.
[00:08:10]
Let's take a look.
I had a heated debate
with heated discussion two weeks ago
with Chuck Schumer, and it got ugly.
Schumer is a piece of.
And it got ugly because, you know,
these politicians, you know,
the one thing I've learned, they walk
in and they tell you I did this for you.
[00:08:28]
Okay, great.
Let me tell you what you haven't done
for us or our members.
And we got into it pretty heavy.
And I'm like, you had no problem
taking $550,000 from me
three weeks prior to me going
on the Republican National Convention.
And then you want to be the tough guy on
Twitter or X or whatever it is, and throw
[00:08:45]
it out there about me, like, whatever.
I, I love his energy.
I just do like I love his whole vibe,
to be honest,
because it's so straight to the point.
And I love the fact that he's he's not
really calling out corruption, but in
[00:09:04]
the way that he's framing this issue,
he's calling out, I mean, he's drawing
attention to the corruption, right?
Because oftentimes when we talk
about corruption, guys, we talk about it
in the context of corporations.
But remember, you know,
police unions have a lot of power.
They also do lobbying.
[00:09:20]
So don't make the assumption
that it's only corporations.
Unions also have a tremendous amount
of influence over politicians
because they also contribute
a lot of money to various politicians.
And so to some foreign governments,
I hear, okay.
So look, guys, Sean O'Brien is
if you think he's like some
[00:09:37]
sort of Republican or operative.
No, not even close.
He nearly got into a fistfight
with a Republican senator, Senator Waingro
from Oklahoma, like just about a year ago.
Do we have that on tape?
We do have that video here.
Take a look at this quick.
The tough guy act
in these Senate hearings.
[00:09:54]
You know where to find me.
Any place, any time. Cowboy.
Sir, this is a time.
This is a place
you want to run your mouth.
We can be two consenting adults.
We can finish it here.
- Okay.
- That's fine.
- Perfect.
- You want to do it now?
I'd love to.
Do it right now.
[00:10:09]
Well, Stan your butt up,
then you stand your butt up.
- Oh!
- Hold up.
- Oh!
- Stop it!
- Is that your solution.
- To every problem?
No, no. Sit down, sit down.
Look at you.
You know you're a United States senator.
Sit down. Okay.
Sit down. Please.
All right.
- No, no, no, Bernie's.
- The best part.
[00:10:24]
No, I love I love every
part of that video.
Right.
Especially because during one
of the shots, all you see is Bernie's hand
doing, like, the typical Bernie hand thing
that he does.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You look, even if you didn't hear
his classic voice, you would know it
[00:10:39]
from the hand motion 100%.
- United States senator, sit down.
- You're a United States senator.
But see, that's Sean O'Brien.
Not like from 20 years ago,
but like from a year ago.
Barely.
Maybe not even getting into a fight
with a Republican senator because he's not
[00:10:56]
playing and he's not trying to pick sides.
He's trying to look out
for his union members,
and that's what he's supposed to do.
So now go over the Democrats.
Chuck Schumer running his mouth.
Well, okay.
But guys, when Chuck Schumer
and other Democrats and other Republicans.
So Republicans, Teamsters, if you're
watching or anybody that's watching
[00:11:14]
Republicans are the party of the rich.
They're a party of big business.
They've never helped you.
They're never going to help you.
They're for lower wages.
They always fight for lower wages.
Always.
Anytime that there's a strike,
they say fire them.
Donald Trump brags about firing everybody
and say, oh, yeah, I'd fire, fire, fire.
[00:11:30]
Right. They hate the workers.
So that's to me that's a given.
But when you come over to the Democrats
and so Chuck Schumer and all you guys,
you take money from the corporations
and you kiss their ass.
You take money from me
and you spit in my face.
Why should I applaud it
and pretend it's raining?
[00:11:47]
No. If you're going to take my money,
then you're going to do what I tell you
to do, just like every goddamn donor.
Okay? If you say, hey, don't.
We're not taking money anymore.
We're not corrupt anymore.
Great.
I love it because then we're going to.
Labor's going to win
because we have more people on our side
[00:12:03]
and we have more voters.
Right.
But if you're going to do your corruption,
and the only people you don't listen
to is labor, well, that's a raw deal.
Totally.
And if you're not calling that out,
you're not standing up for your members.
- So thank you, Sean O'Brien.
- Definitely.
Now, unfortunately, the Democratic Party
has been losing working class support,
[00:12:21]
and I dive into that.
I just wanted to quickly mention the
very right wing piece I wrote recently.
More working class voters
are flocking to Trump.
Can Democrats win them back?
In it, I talk about what Democrats
can do to win them back.
So check that out. It's at kasparian.com.
[00:12:39]
But wait a minute.
- It's my.
- Right wing.
I didn't know you were going
to be honest in Substack.
I mean, you're quoting polling
about how the voter, the non-college
educated voters are going towards Trump.
What are you doing? Quoting facts.
Have you turned right wing?
- I mean, come on.
- Guys, I'm wearing a red dress.
[00:12:56]
- Yeah.
- I mean, come on.
Not maybe not a red pill, but a red dress.
No, guys, seriously.
And all kidding aside,
so for those of you who don't know
any of the internet drama, et cetera.
People yelling at Anna Arno for saying,
oh, for like titles like that,
but you got to at least read the piece
and go, oh, I get it now.
[00:13:13]
She's trying to help Democrats go in a
better direction instead of the direction
that they're going, which isn't
helping the voters or themselves.
If you can't do that level of nuance,
you are never going to like this show
in the first place, right?
So if you want just simple minded
thinking, this is my ideology.
[00:13:30]
I like people who are
repeating the same things.
I repeat all the time.
There's a thousand shows on the internet
for you, but here we do nuance.
We and we fight for the average American
and we're honest about it.
Thanks for watching The Young Turks
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