In 1999, in what was called the Battle of Seattle, leftists were anti-globalists, smashing up Starbucks, complaining about the World Trade Organization. Now that the Trump administration is bucking globalism, the anti-globalists have remade themselves as pro-globalists. Labor unions like the AFL-CIO advocated against trade liberalization, now they are in favor of that as Trump focuses on local, America first, sustainable economic solutions. This coalition of Democrats, labor and leftists now favor open borders policies that create low-wage second-class workers and subsidize corporate profits. Teachers unions favor illegal immigration because more students who need special services, like ESL, means more government funding.
China entered the WTO in 2000. The US has been flooded with cheap goods since then. Trump wants what Americans want but to be made by Americans. Why does the left now oppose that?
The "fight the power" people are now the "uphold the power" people while the Republican and MAGA party of fiscal responsibility and small government have embraced social safety nets and workers' rights. The leftists don't know what they're fighting for because they have no cohesive principles, just hatred of Trump.
Do they hate global free trade or love it? Do they oppose federalized power or advocate for it? Are they for American workers or only those who work for government? Ask any of the protesters out there in the streets this past weekend and they can't even tell you.
When asked what their "number one issue" with Trump was, the protesters answered "everything." Others said they feared for American democracy. They chanted, danced around, and carried their signs, but the only cohesive message was "Trump bad."
During their "Hands Off" day of action on April 5, backed by leftist groups funded by mega-donors, protesters demanded that the federal government maintain control over education nationally instead of returning power and funding to the states. This despite American students' collective failure in core subjects. They objected to tariffs because the announcement sent the stock market reeling, while they cheered for the tanking of American car maker Tesla's stock.
Several labor leaders got up to speak at the Washington, DC rally, but instead of talking about private sector workers, who were the reason unions were founded in the US, they spoke only about government workers who don't have to compete on an even playing field for raises and benefits, but just have to demand more tax dollars from the federal government.
The AFL-CIO, which was formed in 1955 with a merger of two groups representing labor and craft unions in industrial America, claims to "fight for keeping good jobs at home by reforming trade rules, reindustrializing the US economy, and providing worker protections in the global economy." Yet the head of their union stood on stage blasting Trump for doing these very same things.
The head of the nation's largest union, the National Education Association, demanded that the massive bureaucracy of the Department of Education, which came into being in 1980, not be reformed. The agency had a 2024 budget of $268 billion, much of which went to colleges and universities that are now under investigation for allowing rampant antisemitism on campus. Yet Becky Pringle stood on stage before a large crowd saying that it was "disrespectful" to eliminate DOE staff, get rid of the agency, and try the opposite of the failing measures. Her concern was for government control, not American students.
The leader of AFGE, a union comprised entirely of government workers, got up to complain that the federal government was cutting costs by eliminating workers, too, saying "If [Trump's] able to deny our members their rights under the law," meaning juicy union contracts, "guess what? He won't stop there. Because you're next. He'll deny your rights. And that's their hope, that's their plan." AFGE, of which Dr. Everett Kelley is the head, subsists entirely on the dues from government workers. Trump's executive order putting an end to collective bargaining for government workers would spell an end to AFGE and Kelley's over $200,000 annual salary.
The leftists, under the guise of antiracism, trans acceptance, and anti-capitalism, have been screaming to fight the power, tear down the establishment, and tax the billionaires. Now they are angry that the Trump administration is upsetting the free markets by imposing tariffs and trying to bring manufacturing home, which is an upset to capitalism and billionaires. They're angry that he's literally doing what they wanted.
Democrats and leftist believe they are fighting the power, they believe they are trying to hold the federal government to account, but all they are doing is demanding the status quo remain the same and that government function with the same bloat and waste they used to call out as corrupt. Democrats are lacking core, identifying principles, and until they sort out what they really believe and why, their protests will be nothing more than circus side-shows without any actionable ethos.
