What the Hell Was Teamsters’ President Thinking With That RNC Speech?

Beaver [she/her]@lemmy.ca to politics @lemmy.world – 301 points –
What the Hell Was Teamsters’ President Thinking With That RNC Speech?
newrepublic.com
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“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 SOB,”

Uh, no we can't. He is and always will be a giant thin-skinned coward. Where did he prove to be tough?

A shot grazed his fucking ear. Every teen goth girl has taken more direct hits to their ear.

Plus, he doesn’t listen to anyone anyway. The only more useless part of his body that they could have hit is his hair.

Did we ever get actual footage of his ear? The day of, we saw an ear with blood on it, then today we saw an ear with a bandage covering it. Are there any shots of the ear cleaned up enough to see actual tissue damage?

The tinfoil hat in me is still wondering if the performative display we saw was something like a gunman hired to pop a few shots at expendable followers behind Trump, so that Trump can duck below where the cameras were aimed, slather some shit on his ear, then pop up with that cheesy movie-esque fist pump.

Kinda expected info on the gunman to snuff those kinds of theories, but it's sounding like he was just another dipshit Nazi who could easily be duped into a deal like that, then popped off by the SS.

The ear itself could disprove it, but so far I haven't seen any articles with a pic.

Trump is too much of a pussy to let someone fire live rounds in his general direction.

Forethought has never been his strong suit. If the on-paper pitch was good enough, it'd be in-character for him to just go for it without considering any of the 'what if's.

If you see the shot that shows the bullet frozen in air, you can see trumps ear ripped at the top before the blood has started spurting. In one of the ones with his fist raised. You can zoom in on his ear and clearly see the whole thing has become purple, swollen, and inflamed.

There are still a lot of questions about this event, but I’m pretty confident that Trump’s ear actually took some sort of damage from something, and so far the most likely cause seems to be a bullet.

I don't have a link to it, but I did see a picture from the rally showing it, and the best way I can describe it is that he looked like that guy Mike Tyson took a bite out of. There was a decent chunk of cartilage that got blasted out of the upper and outer edge of his ear, maybe about an inch across at the widest part.

Didn't die from getting grazed by a bullet, on the ear...

Next speaker is gonna say Trump cured cancer without a hint of irony.

It wasn't even the bullet, his got nipped by glass shrapnel from the promter.

This is based on incorrect early speculation. A bullet nicked his ear directly. Not that it really matters.

Was this confirmed by anyone but shitty Reddit sleuths? The teleprompter being shattered also holds validity.

When glass like that breaks with that much kinetic energy, it’s not a movie style explosion. The particles collide into each other and ridiculous velocity and one very likely could have sliced into his ear.

There is a photograph that happened to catch the bullet in mid-flight just short of hitting Trump. There has been no credible statements from anyone who would know saying it was from the teleprompter. There isn't even any reporting that the teleprompter was hit. It's just one of a dozen fabricated narratives. If you can't "sleuth" any better than this, you are going to be steamrolled by AI generated propaganda.

The bullet in the picture doesn’t really prove anything. It could be 2” from his head or 2’ from his head.

I would hope the world is smarter than that and could realize it, along with understanding the rupture mechanics behind the glass of a teleprompter shattering, but I guess not.

You’re as bad as every other conspiracy nut.

I think you mean the mechanics of a teleprompter sitting there since, as I said, there is no evidence whatsoever that it was hit, and eyewitnesses saying it wasn't. Sure, it's possible. The bullet might also have struck a passing bird and it's beak flew into Trump's ear.

I get conspiracy theories that drive towards some desired political ends, but this random bullshit is just dumb. Somebody shot a bullet and as a result Trump has a bloody ear. Why should anyone even care if it hit directly or was a secondary impact? It changes nothing of any relevance.

He refused to leave without his shoes and pumped his fist in the air. Strength.

He refused to leave without his ~~shoes ~~and pumped his fist in the air. Strength.

his LIFTS. he wouldn't leave them on the stage to be a photo op. because he's ashamed of them.

He raised his fist after the sniper team had already killed the shooter while missing a little chunk of his ear. Super brave. I remember after my dad broke his leg in 16 places in an accident he went to work in a wheel chair and kept at it until he got out of it after the doctors told him he would likely not be able to walk. That's tough. There are a lot of actually tough SOBs in America powering through their own problems to do what needs to be done. Trump isn't one of them.

Guy got his ear-pierced and we call that "fighting for his life", gimme a fucking break

Corrupt class traitor shows his true colors, every teamster should be voting this clown out.

Also this is on top of him challenging a Republican to a fist fight this year during a committee session where he and the Republican idiot had to be gaveled down by Bernie.

Absolute 🤡

“I refuse to keep doing the same things my predecessors did,” O’Brien said in a speech that criticized both parties. “Today the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party. We will create an agenda and work with a bipartisan coalition ready to accomplish something real for the American worker.”

Too cowardly to even admit he’s a conservative. I’m sure he’ll be speaking at the DNC too.

If he shows up to the DNC he should be booed off the damn stage.

Ugh, I hate doing this but biden hasn't been 100 with unions. I don't think trumps better but it's a sore subject for sure. I will say biden did get the rail works sick days. If that was the concession he made and things are truly better I'd ease up.

On the other hand the supreme court has signaled that they will intervene in union related disputes and in one of their recent rulings may have some chilling effects.

He was thinking about money...for himself. Fuck everyone else, of course.

His whole speech was a call for bipartisanship and for all workers to unite along class lines. Aside from a tiny bit of pandering to the venue/audience which makes the rightwing audience more receptive to the message, he didn't endorse or praise the Republican party. If you want Republican voters to wake up and vote in their own interest, this is how the message has to go. It's also a great way to sow division within the Republican party.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien praised Donald Trump as an ally for the working class and “one tough SOB,”

Yes, very bipartisan...

Lmao trump is a weak piece of shit. The weakest around. He can't even fire people to their face, he did it over tweets when he was president and never even told the person directly. God I'm remembering what an awful shit show his failure of a presidency was. Awful 4 years.

Mmmmm daddy... More dirty tasty boots for my filthy little pig mouth!

Thinking about his fattening bank account if fat orange pushes through his agenda

Yeah the angry orange is so tough he needs half a dozen guards keeping his candy ass safe

It seemed to me like he was thinking what an excellent opportunity to reach a new kind of audience to further the objectives of the teamsters.

The attendees applauded a lot of statements, whether forced for pageantry or authentically, that is bound to get some gears turning.

And those who didn't applaud, well that's a different useful signal.

There's really a lot of opportunity for workers advocate to get good messaging out to this crowd. I would also point out that his address was probably the most substantive one of the whole convention so far.

The reality is Republicans will not disappear, they might even take majorities. Labor topics are super important to get out to them.

I thought this whole play was really interesting.

It was him recognizing that for some reason there are still folks in labor that vote republican.

Dunno, but if I was a Teamster, I’d leave the union over that nonsense.

Nah, that just takes power away from working people. Organize militant committees within the union for the sole purpose of getting working politics into leadership positions. That is the play.

I’m work in a teamsters shop. You can’t even get these idiots to vote on their contracts let alone start a splinter group.