President Joe Biden sought to play up his working-class roots Wednesday by telling union workers that former President Donald Trump, his likely GOP rival in the 2024 presidential race, “looks down on us.”
“Folks, we all know people like Trump who look down on us, don’t we?” Biden said at the North America’s Building Trade Union (NABTU) National Legislative Conference, according to The Hill. “We all know somebody we grew up with like that. It’s either Scranton values or Mar-a-Lago values.”
Biden tried to count himself among the working class by wrapping himself in inclusive language while portraying Trump as an elitist outsider.
“A defeated former president who sees the world from Mar-a-Lago and bows down to billionaires, who looks down on American union workers,” he said. “It’s not that he’s not supportive — he looks down on us.”
Biden drew laughter as he added: “Think about the guys you grew up with who you’d like to get into the corner and just give them a straight lift. I’m not suggesting we hit the president. But we all know those guys growing up.”
Biden began driving the point about class distinctions home last week when he told a conference for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) that “my opponent learned the best way to get rich is inherit it.”
The NABTU endorsed Biden on Wednesday; the IBEW had endorsed him before its conference.
Biden often touts himself as the most pro-union president in history, and he became the first commander in chief to ever join a picket line during last year’s autoworker strike.
On Wednesday, he referred to himself as “Middle Class Joe,” a moniker he has often used to refer to himself throughout his decades in politics.
“The guy has never worked a day in a working man’s boots,” Biden said, referring to Trump. “By the way, you gave me a pair of boots … I know how to put them on. I still sometimes cut the yard. The Secret Service doesn’t let me do it anymore.”
It’s all part of the Biden campaign’s efforts to rebuild the coalition that won him the presidency in 2020, with a recent emphasis on courting union workers.
In 2016, union households started to shift support from Democrats to Republicans, helping Trump win states like Michigan. Biden won that state in 2020, but faces an uphill battle in 2024 as his support craters among Arab and Muslim voters due to his position on the Israel-Hamas war.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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