A few days ago, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien went on Tucker Carlson's podcast and shared some shocking stories about his interactions with Democrats and Republicans. Take a look at this. Prior to Biden dropping out of the race, he's in the race around June or May. [00:00:18] One of my vice presidents, a woman named Joan Corey out of my local, she sits on our general executive board, was at an event, with, Vice President Harris. And, you know, they're going through the line to get the picture, and Joan introduces herself to, vice President Harris says, I'm Joan Corey. [00:00:37] I'm on the general executive board for the Teamsters. She goes, Teamsters. You better get on board. You better get on board. So I call up Marty Walsh. He wasn't the secretary of labor, but, you know, he was pushing, pushing hard for us to make the endorsement. And I'm like, let me ask you a question, Marty. [00:00:54] Excuse my French. Who does this lady think she is? Yeah, there are a lot more clips where that came from. But, Jake, just off of that one, what do you think so far on the story? First of all, I can't get enough of his accent. Teamsters pushing hard. Okay. I love that attitude. [00:01:10] Way to go, Sean O'Brien. And so I know. Heresy. He spoke at the RNC. He's criticizing the Democratic Party. As Ben said, there's more where that came from. But overall, I love what he's doing. I know it's on Tucker Carlson, right? But he'd say the same thing on here, and I'm here for it. [00:01:27] I'm going to back him up with facts in a minute. Totally. And my only thought on that is we weren't there. We don't have tape of it. My guess is she probably didn't say. You better get on board. She probably was like, you better get on board. But still wasn't like, how can I get your support? [00:01:43] And still didn't respond the way that she should have by wanting to listen. And so there's a vast difference in what could have been like more videos coming up right now. A little bit of brief context. First, in case you're not familiar with the tension between the Teamsters [00:01:59] and Democrats as of late, the Teamsters have endorsed Democratic candidate for the past six elections for president, but this year they endorsed none of the candidates. In fact, their membership actually went for Trump, according to an electronic member poll that was initiated after President [00:02:15] Joe Biden withdrew from the race. About 60% of members believe the union should endorse Trump, while 34% supported Harris and 6% another candidate. But the Democrats acted like the Teamsters owed them their support. And keep in mind that throughout the interview, O'Brien repeatedly referred [00:02:31] to himself as a Democrat despite his critiques of the party. That aside, let's watch O'Brien describe his interactions with President Joe Biden while he was still running for office. We interviewed every single candidate that from, you know, the people that entered the race early to the last two standing, which was Trump and Harris. [00:02:51] And we interviewed them at a round table with, rank and file members and our general executive board, and we provided each, each candidate with 16 of the same questions. And we have Biden in there. And, you know, you could just clearly tell he was, you know, not the man he was. [00:03:06] And it was you could. Yeah. It was kind of sad, you know, because it's sad because you look at it and and I think, Jen, generally, you know, a nice older man, nice older gentleman. Right. And what they were doing to him, the Democratic Party, it was kind of like look like elderly abuse to me. [00:03:21] Yes. And, you know, we knew we weren't going to go with him. And then after the first debate. We pursue in your meeting with him, it was obvious that. He. Yeah, it was. So we give 16 questions two weeks in advance. The same 16 questions to each candidate. So, you know, RFK answered all 16 questions and probably most of them [00:03:41] didn't answer them how we would like him to answer them, but they answered them. Joe Biden came in and he he answered, he answered five of them. Donald Trump answered all 16. And things did not go any more smoothly when Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic nominee. [00:03:58] Take a look. So she comes to the roundtable. Same format, same questions. Rank and file members are asking our questions, just like they asked every other candidate and they were trying to negotiate with us. She only wants to answer three questions. We're like, there's 16 questions here. So she answers three of them. [00:04:18] And on the fourth question, one of her operatives or one of her staff slips a note in front of me. This will be the last question. And it was 20 minutes earlier than the time that it was going to end. Come on. 100%. And so, you know, you're there trying to get our support. [00:04:36] And her declaration on the way out was, I'm going to win with you or without you. She thought that or said it out loud. She said. - It out loud. - And that one's mine. I still I can't even picture her saying, why would you say that out loud? Trump says stuff like that out loud, but I'm not sure why she would say that. [00:04:52] I mean, I have no reason for it. Why would she say it? - Why would you go there? - And no to see Ben. Everything that Sean is saying there rings true to me. Based on other interactions I've had with Democrats, I didn't have any interactions. To be fair, with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, I met a long time ago, so I don't [00:05:09] want to represent something I don't see. But this entitlement complex in the Democratic Party leadership is overwhelming. And so they do it with people, especially with people on the left. Their sense of it is, we're going to win anyway. We don't need you. You need us. [00:05:25] Okay, so you'll do as you're told. And in fact, Ben here, I'll go further. Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris's team in 2024. They did no ads on on the Young Turks. Even though we had the most undecided voters, it was the most logical place [00:05:41] to do ads, especially because our, you know, everybody knows on Israel alone, we had a lot of folks who were uncommitted and not sure which way to go. Right. And they did zero ads on us. They did tons of ads on, left wing shows that agree with them 100% [00:05:56] and would do their propaganda. And they did tons of ads on right wing shows with people they couldn't move at all. But so their sense is, if you dare defy us and you're on the left. We're going to win anyway. And so all we're going to do is punish you now and afterwards. [00:06:12] It's very authoritarian. I despise it, and it's incredibly off putting. And when you do it to people like me and Sean O'Brien, I'm we're we're not the guys to push around. And I'm not saying that like, oh, I'm a tough guy or whatever, like, and we're bigger than them. [00:06:28] No, we're not bigger than the Democratic Party. Right. And the Teamsters is just one union, but it's just in our nature not to get pushed around. And so and then they always think like, we're going to show you. And I was like, all right, who showed who after 2016. It was it was Hillary Clinton president. Yeah. [00:06:44] Okay. Boy, you really showed us. Because obviously recent elections have been going both ways, but they just took the union support for granted. And look how much they could have used every single bit of that difference between 60% and 34% support and no endorsement. And Sean O'Brien also had a stunning interaction with Senator Chuck Schumer. [00:07:02] Let's give that a look. Two weeks prior to us speaking at the RNC. You know, we didn't hide from the fact that we were going to speak there. Listen, I tell everybody all the time, if I get a venue to highlight how valuable our organization is, the Teamsters union to the entire country, I will take any and all venues to do that. Good. [00:07:18] So two weeks prior to that, Chuck Schumer asked me to meet with him, meet with him, and I meet with him, and he wants 550,000 for the super PAC for the Senate races. No problem. And I said, look, I'm speaking at the RNC. He's like, oh, great job. [00:07:34] You know, that's good. You should represent your members. Day after I give that speech at the RNC, he gets on Twitter and starts talking about my speech. Remember who fixed your pensions? And I'm like, this guy's a joke. Like, why would you do this? Two, two weeks prior. [00:07:51] You're telling me when you're taking a $550,000 super PAC check? You know, that's great. It's great for your members. You know, that's good. And then you want to get on Twitter like a tough guy and, you know, throw. - It out to call. - You. Well, because they don't like confrontation. They don't want to hear the truth. [00:08:06] Yeah, that one too is a little bit strange to me because I believe everything that he says happened there. But just because he gives you his blessing to go speak at the RNC doesn't mean that you don't aren't going to go on Twitter and try to combat things that were said that make you look bad. Of course you're going to do that. [00:08:22] And he shouldn't have taken that so personally. To me, it was more stark about that revelation. And that clip is just the such clear quid pro quo, and you have to give us $550,000 for our thing. You know, when I ran for president, you experienced same thing. At some point you just get I'm sure you experienced it. [00:08:37] You just get priced out at some point. They literally say, like at the big events, the big speeches, the big conventions. If you don't now pay this next huge amount, you don't get to be on the stage. You don't get to speak even to get a booth. It's it's an insane amount of money and you just get priced out of our democracy. [00:08:54] Yeah. I mean, it was hilarious. I mean, Bernie does a speech against billionaires. The next guy who speaks a billionaire at the DNC. And his laugh line is, I'm a real billionaire. Ha ha. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's literally what happened. And so it's pay to play. [00:09:10] Chris Cuomo did a good job explaining that at the DNC. By the way, at the RNC, same thing. All the corporate executives are at the top tier. They're the ones that are donating and they're they're the ones in the fancy boxes, etc.. But at least let Sean O'Brien speak. Sean Fein, head of the UAW, did speak at the DNC, but overall, the same theme [00:09:28] and the Chuck Schumer story. I believe that 100% to and and and I've heard other stories about Chuck Schumer doing that. Why do they do that again? Same thing entitlement complex. You have to do this. And and they're kind of they're fake politicians. [00:09:44] So to your face when they're trying to ask for money, they're nice. ET cetera. And then they'll go and attack you afterwards. And so look, I on all these clips, the Kamala answering only three questions and then wanting to leave 20 minutes early. [00:10:00] They just assume that labor must be on their side. It's their job to be on their side. Yeah, but did you pass the pro act right. Did you pass any of the union bills that you said you were going to pass? Did Obama pass them? No. Did Biden pass them? No. You keep not passing them and not barely even trying. [00:10:18] Dying. Died in committee in the Senate. No effort at all. No pushback against the Republicans. Nothing. And I told you from the get go, they were never going to pass those things. They were never, never even going to try. So but then they come in and they go, well, I don't have to answer your questions, and I don't have to advertise on your show, [00:10:34] whether it's labor or media you owe us. We are Democratic leadership. We are owed everything. Well, that's exactly how you clown away election after election, 100%. And I think, you know, maybe the most telling anecdote [00:10:49] from my campaign about this exact issue was at the high point of my campaign. I was invited to speak at the AFL-CIO convention in Altoona, Iowa, and I was speaking. It was our biggest stage. I followed on stage every major candidate. I followed Biden and Buttigieg and Sanders and everybody. [00:11:06] Interestingly, Kamala didn't show up for that. But I speak to them and I get a standing ovation at the end of my speech because I tell them that I'm the only one you know for sure is going to fight for you because I'm one of you, because I'm in your exact union. As a Sag-Aftra member, I literally am a signatory of AFL-CIO. [00:11:26] I need the same changes that you need. So you know for a fact I'm going to fight for you. They get on their feet, and none of the other candidates had any sort of union tie. One candidate like Michael Bender or something said that his grandpa was in the union the next day. And as I'm giving my speech to a standing guy, I see all the cameras [00:11:42] in the back, turning off, not caring, not paying attention. The next day, the front page story in the Des Moines Register says all about the thing. Then one section of it says candidates tout ties to union and refers to Bennet's grandfather. Being in the union ignores me directly, saying I'm in the union, [00:11:58] they say in the last paragraph. Also speaking at the event was Ben Gleib, Beto O'Rourke and Joe Sestak. And so I write a letter to the editor complaining about this, saying how corrupt that is. They print it, but it's days later. And the back page and the letters to the editor, and no one knows about the candidate that actually is going to fight for them, [00:12:15] because everybody else goes there and does a standard speech, their stump speech, they get some applause, they walk off like I got the union in the bag and they don't. - And look at the future now. - Yeah. The story about the grandfather reminds me of Nancy Pelosi saying, you know, I have a poster in my basement about universal health care [00:12:33] from 30 years ago or the 60s or something. And I'm like, yeah, how's that working out for us? Like, in order to remember something that the Democratic Party stood for, they have to go back 30, 40, 50 years or several generations because they're so lost in the elitist [00:12:50] soup and they can't see straight. Yeah, I don't know if that's a saying, but it sounded good. It's lost in the elitist soup, and it they can't see straight. You know, it it reminds me of just like a funny thing that happened in life recently. Off topic, but the same analogy of that is I was talking to my friend the other day [00:13:06] who was getting a massage from her healer, and she literally says, you have to try her out. She's the best healer. I've been with her for ten years. And I'm like, she seems like the worst healer. When does the healing start? You know, that's the exact same issue. And the Republicans are instead crazily taking the mantle on. [00:13:22] This will end with a clip of Sean O'Brien explaining how Donald Trump pushed back against the RNC's attempt to censor his now infamous speech, while the DNC refused to let him talk. Leading up to the RNC. We're writing our speech and we're going through it, and, you know, [00:13:38] we're editing it internally. All of us. Great team. And we submit it to the RNC. The folks I think we submitted probably a week prior, and we submit the speech, and some of the underlings in the RNC didn't like what we had to say, I bet. [00:13:54] And so they wanted to change it and modify it and everything else. And we took a position. I took a position. Well, I'm not going then. And so we reached out to, Siouxsie Wiles and told her, look, we're not we are not modifying the speech. [00:14:10] And she's like, I don't think you should. She says, why don't you call DJT and tell him? So I called him on his cell phone and I said, listen, I said, they want us to modify this speech. He goes, I haven't seen it. He goes, I don't care what you say. Do whatever you want, Sean. [00:14:27] Oh come on. So did you go to the Democratic? - No we. - Didn't. - We didn't get invited. - There you have that. And thanks, at least in part to O'Brien's relationship with Trump. Lori Chavez-deremer was chosen as secretary of labor, and at least she's about as pro-labor as Republicans get. [00:14:44] Yeah, look, that's exactly what I'm talking about, that Sean O'Brien's story about the RNC versus DNC. So at the DNC, there's no way they would allow you to do an unedited speech. It's not within the bounds of imagination. There's no way that happens. [00:15:00] Okay. They wouldn't even let a Palestinian speak, even though they saw his speech and saw that it was totally inoffensive and they were like, nope, still not going to allow it. Right. So they're all look, they. And so then you go to Siouxsie Wiles, campaign manager for Donald Trump and Donald Trump himself, and they are accessible and welcoming. [00:15:16] Now you could say, oh no, no, no, it's fake. It's this that I know guys I know look like. It's not like Trump was great to labor in his first term. He was terrible to labor. Right. And so he doesn't even believe in a minimum wage. But he but Sean got through to him Sean O'Brien did. And then he picked a labor secretary. That's not bad. [00:15:33] Right. So it turns out that it it can make a difference. Right. And so look, you don't have to believe that Trump's going to be great on labor. But as a political strategy, being more welcoming and allowing for a little bit of freedom is a much better strategy than our side going. [00:15:51] You only do what their talking points say, and if you don't, you will be punished. How did that work out for you? I mean, at some point Democratic voters have to hold these people to account. Their strategies are awful. They never lead to victory. And so the next time they tell you, you have to bow your head [00:16:09] to the next authoritarian leader of the Democratic Party. Don't do it. Go in the primaries. Vote against them. Pick a real populist who's going to support you, the workers of America, and actually fight for the average guy, which is what the Democratic Party used to be about. Another great example of that, too, that, Sean also shared [00:16:28] in this interview with Tucker Carlson, I thought was really interesting. You know, you already saw that he said that Schumer gets on Twitter and says, don't forget, we fixed your pensions well, long ago in the past, and also wagged his finger in his face personally and said that. But he says that they met with Republican Josh Hawley [00:16:45] and discussed right to work laws and specifically told him why they are, why they are against right to work laws, and why you have to have union solidarity. And states in 27 states have these laws that are really detrimental to unions, detrimental to workers pay. And Hawley gets on Twitter the next day and says, I had this great meeting [00:17:01] and I'm against right to work laws. And so he's talking about current legislation that he is against, whether he follows through on that or not. And Democrats are talking about the past. Yeah. So last thing here. So this is a new show where we give you facts. That's a fact. [00:17:17] If you watch other left wing shows, they might say, oh, no, I don't care about that. Josh Hawley is a monster, he's evil, etc.. Yes, we might massively disagree. Not might. We do massively disagree with Josh Hawley on social issues, cultural issues, etc. But he actually did do that. You want to know why? [00:17:33] Because he's not taking corporate PAC money anymore. And so since he's not and then he gets an argument about why right to work laws make no sense. They're anti-labor. And he goes, oh, okay, now that I'm not getting paid for that opinion, I'll change my opinion. So credit where credit is due. Facts matter. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. [00:17:49] Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. 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