Is Trump a Champion of Workers? His Anti-union Policies Indicate Otherwise
President Donald Trump has presented himself as a champion of the American worker and vowed to restore factory jobs. He has promised to create millions of new positions and levied a tariff war in the name of helping U.S. employees.
But despite the rhetoric, Trump has decreased labor protections, rolled back worker safety and weakened federal unions during his presidency. The thrust of his policies points at his actual intentions and political base, according to Ileen DeVault, Academic Director of The Worker Institute at Cornell.
"If you think of his base as ordinary workers, it definitely doesn’t benefit them at all," DeVault told Newsweek. "However, if you think of his base as the wealthy far-right wing trying to get more power for corporations, which I think is his true base, then yes, it certainly helps them a lot, because they want to work to damage unions."