Early last week, Donald Trump shored up the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation’s largest police union, and one of the most politically connected unions in the country.
Now, the founder of another powerful union is hinting at wave of folks from his side of the aisle flocking to Trump’s side ahead of the presidential election.
Brian Pannebecker, a retired autoworker, told Fox News during an interview that United Auto Workers (UAW) members are starting to move towards supporting Trump.
Pannebecker spent 36 combined years on the line for both Ford and Chrysler, and started a pro-Trump group of colleagues and retirees in 2017 that has ballooned to thousands in recent times.
During his interview with Fox News, Pannebecker said his group started with just 30 active UAW members who all supported former President Trump in 2016.
“Word got out around my plant. It quickly doubled and tripled in size. … Other workers at other auto plants started seeing it [on social media] and requesting to join. And all of a sudden I had hundreds of members,” Pannebecker said.
Pennebecker now says his group has expanded outside the internet to regular visits to auto plants around Michigan where he and many other Trump-supporting union members are engaging with others and building support in a sector long known for supporting Democratic candidates.
Pannebecker said the UAW has and continues to be an important entity for middle-class workers, adding that he and his members support collective bargaining and the idea that unions built America’s working class.
Pannebecker noted during his interview that neither he nor his group are at odds with the UAW itself, they notably offer a differing political viewpoint than its leaders, including prominent Trump critic President Shawn Fain.
According to Pannebecker, one major issue uniting his growing group in support of Trump and other Republicans is the Democrat favor shown toward what he calls the “Green New Scam.”
“We think it’s all a farce,” Pannebecker said, adding that it is obvious the American consumer does not want to be forced to buy electric vehicles and that the government’s insistence on supporting EVs over internal-combustion vehicles has led to lines of workers being cut and innumerable EV vehicles sitting idle on lots in Detroit and dealerships across the country.
Pannebecker added that Trump’s forging of the USMCA as a replacement for NAFTA infused a new energy in the automative sector, as it disincentivized offshoring union work.
“After [President Clinton] signed it and it … went into effect, the auto companies – who are in business to make money and profits for shareholders – started closing plants here in the United States and moving them to just south of the border, maybe 10 miles [into Mexico].”
“Well, the Democrats and even some of the previous Republican administrations never addressed that. So, when Donald Trump was running, he said, ‘If I’m elected, I will tear up NAFTA, and we’ll renegotiate our own trade agreement so it’s advantageous to American workers.’”
“And guess what? He kept his campaign promise.”
Pannebecker said Auto Workers For Trump is united behind the two issues of the federal push toward EVs and green regulations, including mileage standards and offshoring that has occurred in recent decades.
Pennebecker then went on to talk about Kamala Harris and how her administration is viewed by his group.
“Kamala Harris is on record saying she would like to see all vehicles built in the United States reaching zero-emissions by 2035. She supported legislation to that effect when she was a U.S. senator,” he said, going on to cite broadcasted claims that she was the most liberal U.S. senator.
“Even more liberal than Bernie Sanders, so she’s dangerous,” he said. “She knows nothing about manufacturing. She knows nothing about the economy. She’s a San Francisco liberal district attorney. And then she was California’s attorney general. And we all know what’s happened in California. They’ve ruined that state.”
As for Auto Workers for Trump’s future plans, Pannebecker said they are looking to target some of the largest plants in Michigan in hopes of getting their message out.