Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, stated in a podcast released Monday that the Democratic Party has failed union members for decades. O’Brien’s appearance on “This Past Weekend” comes after the union’s recent announcement that it will not endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump in this election cycle. This marks only the second time the Teamsters have chosen not to endorse a candidate since 1960.
The union has backed the Democratic presidential ticket in every election since 1996. O’Brien told host Theo Von that the Teamsters are taking a stand against the lack of support from the Democratic Party, NBC Montana noted, but the union pointedly rejected Harris. “I’ll be honest with you: I’m a Democrat, but they have f—ed us over for the last 40 years, and for once – and not all of them – but for once, we’re standing up as a union – probably the only one right now – saying, ‘What the f— have you done for us?’” O’Brien explained.
He later asserted that something within the party is “broken,” noti.ng that nearly 60% of his union’s rank-and-file members opted to endorse Trump over Harris. “The Democrats – If 60% of our members aren’t supporting you, the f—ing system’s broken, and you need to fix it,” O’Brien said. “Stop pointing fingers at Sean O’Brien. Stop pointing fingers at the Teamsters union. Look in the mirror.” The union president also mentioned a meeting he had with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., two weeks ago, describing it as getting “f—ing ugly,” according to O’Brien.
“It got ugly because, you know, these politicians, you know, the one thing I’ve learned: They f—ing walk in and they tell you, ‘I did this for you,’” O’Brien said. “Okay, great. Let me tell you what you haven’t f—ing done for us or our members. And we got into it pretty heavy.” According to the union president, Schumer accepted $550,000 from O’Brien three weeks prior to the Republican National Convention. O’Brien stated that the lawmaker later criticized him on social media.
“Then you wanna be a f—ing tough guy on Twitter or X or whatever it is and throw s— out there about me? Like, whatever,” he said, adding that liberals have criticized him despite the nearly $16 million in donations Teamsters has given the Democratic Party since he became its president in 2022, NBC Montana added.
