Teamsters president praises Trump and Vance at RNC, much to White House’s dismay

White House officials are reportedly angry over Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s appearance at the Republican National Convention, given President Joe Biden’s strong support of unions.

The Teamsters remain an outlier among labor groups because they have not endorsed either candidate in the presidential election. O’Brien did not endorse former President Donald Trump at the RNC on Tuesday, but some viewed his address as a de facto endorsement.

“How could the Teamsters not endorse the man who is transparently the most pro-labor president in history? There is no question the White House is furious,” one person reportedly in communication with White House officials told the outlet. “Everybody is p—ed. Everybody is like, ‘What on Earth? How could this have gotten so messed up?’” Biden’s support for labor unions has led many of them to endorse him this presidential cycle.

O’Brien called Trump a “tough S.O.B.” in his address.

“President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid of hearing from new, loud, and often critical voices, and I think we all can agree, whether people like him or they don’t like him, in light of what happened to him on Saturday, he has proven to be one tough S.O.B.,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien’s speech at the RNC was uncommon for a Republican convention as many labor leaders have been overwhelmingly pro-Democrat. He said, “The left called me a traitor” for speaking at the RNC.

“The corporatists that the Teamsters exposed on the floor of the RNC own the Washington Post and were likely upset by how many times Sean O’Brien directly called out Amazon’s atrocious employment practices,” said Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokeswoman, in a statement provided to the outlet responding to the criticism.

“The Teamsters refuse to be pressured to fall in line by those who continue to applaud a broken system,” Deniz continued. “We will continue to participate in the political process at all levels on behalf of working people.”

O’Brien also praised Vance for “truly [caring] about working people.”

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