Hamilton Nolan’s excellent substack newsletter (subscribe here) addresses one of the major questions of Trump 2.0 — do these institutions really believe that licking Trump’s boots will save them?
When faced with a deranged, unrestrained, dictatorial right wing leader, institutions that want to survive have two basic options. The first is to resist with all of their power, trying to fight to defeat the threat to the principles that have allowed them, and their societies, to flourish. The second is to say: “Hey, if we flatter this guy, and get on his good side, maybe he’ll leave us alone—or even allow us to prosper, as he attacks our peers who are on his bad side.”
Which of these two paths are wiser, in the era of Donald Trump?
This year has already given us many examples of all sorts of institutions—businesses, law firms, universities, courts—trying to navigate Trump’s wrath by choosing one option or the other. Today, I want to focus on the world of organized labor. Modern history shows us that aspiring authoritarians on both the left and the right have always taken care to neuter the independent power of organized labor as they try to consolidate power for themselves. This is common sense. Any powerful, well-developed labor movement is a grassroots army that can be mobilized in opposition to the will of a dictatorship. Eroding democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers, free elections—all of these tasks require, first, weakening any form of organized popular opposition. Labor movements are always an obvious potential source of pushback. The same thing is true in America (as I have argued at length). Even though American unions have not really covered themselves in glory thus far in terms of strong, united, effective opposition to the Trump administration, they still have the potential to do so. And unions will be increasingly forced to pick a side as the administration’s actions grow more hostile.
Every union was thinking about this as Trump came into office. Consider the North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU), a coalition of more than a dozen unions representing three million unionized construction workers in the US and Canada. In February, NABTU Government Affairs Director Jim Brewer sent a memo to NABTU President Sean McGarvey outlining the group’s government relations strategy in the first 30 days of the Trump administration. The memo listed dozens of major government-funded infrastructure projects that the group expected Trump to slash funding for. It noted that Trump had already decided not to use project labor agreements, which protect union workers and wages, on many government construction projects. In other words, it was already abundantly clear that the Trump administration would be rolling back huge parts of the Biden administration’s actions that benefited construction workers and their unions.
Then, in a section titled “ESTABLISHING A WORKING RELATIONSHIP,” the memo laid out the approach that NABTU planned to take to get on Trump’s good side. It noted that NABTU had released congratulatory statements on Trump’s inauguration, supported various Trump cabinet nominees, and also strategically “Remained silent” in the face of a number of assaults on union rights generally and NABTU’s priorities specifically.
So NABTU deliberately chose to lick Trump’s feet and kiss his ass as much as possible, as a way to establish a good relationship, reasoning that that would be the best way to protect NABTU’s own interests.
So, how did that work out for them?
Since that memo, the Trump administration has continued to carry out the most drastic assaults on union rights of any president since WW2.
Did they realize the error of their ways? Well…
In a statement released Wednesday, McGarvey decided to lean in even further. “Mr. President, we need your help. You’re a builder. You’ve forgotten more about what it takes to develop and build a project than practically anybody in the world ever knew,” the statement began. “You are working hard, attempting to make deals and bring jobs back. But right now, some people around you are canceling job-creating projects — and with them, thousands and thousands of good-paying, blue-collar construction jobs.”
Please oh please love me back Daddy!
McGarvey lays out all the carnage being rained down upon the construction industry hoping against hope to appeal to Trump’s good side. Except he doesn’t have one.
This is a fundamental error on the part of virtually all of our institutions. They seem to think that because Trump is a clownish imbecile that they can outsmart him by flattering him. They fail to understand that Trump is also a malevolent monster determined to wreak vengeance on the country he believes has failed to properly universally worship him. He is punishing everyone, not just his enemies. Surely that should be obvious by now?