‘Absolutely Not’: Conservative Media Fumes After Trump Nominates Pro-Union Oregonian For Labor Secretary
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
President-elect Donald Trump surprised many on the right on Friday when he nominated Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) to lead the Department of Labor. Chavez-DeRemer lost her reelection bid earlier this month in a competitive district after just one term in office, during which she cemented a pro-union reputation often at odds with her own party.
Chavez-DeRemer championed the PRO Act, a key policy proposal of President Joe Biden that would increase union rights and access at the federal level. The bill passed the Democrat-controlled Congress during Biden’s first two years in office, but was dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate as Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the bill and promised to filibuster it.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien quickly thanked Trump for nominating Chavez-DeRemer. He posted to X, “Nearly a year ago, you joined us for a @Teamsters roundtable and pledged to listen to workers and find common ground to protect and respect labor in America. You put words into action. Now let’s grow wages and improve working conditions nationwide. Congratulations to @LChavezDeRemer on your nomination! North America’s strongest union is ready to work with you every step of the way to expand good union jobs and rebuild our nation’s middle class. Let’s get to work!”
Conservative media, however, was far less welcoming of the nomination. The New York Post, a reliable pro-Trump publication, published a headline that read, “Trump’s labor pick is ‘toxic’ anti-conservative RINO who is too close to unions, critics allege: ‘Not serious.’” In the report, the Post quoted Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, as saying, “In this woman’s America, every worker would have to have a boss and pay the union for the privilege of working. This is an outrage, This is not mildly bad. This is a huge thing that she voted for.”
The Wall Street Journal hit Trump with a scathing editorial on Friday night, titled, “Trump’s Labor Choice: Unions Over Workers.” The editorial board wrote its “Hard to believe, but Donald Trump on Friday night nominated a favorite of teachers union chief Randi Weingarten as his Labor Secretary.” The editorial concluded by arguing:
Republicans can work with unions to improve workforce training and increase alternative education pathways like apprenticeships. But putting Ms. Chavez-DeRemer in charge of Labor will make labor bosses, not workers, more powerful again.
Other pro-Trump, conservative media figures took to X to post their dismay at the nomination. Fox News’s Katie Pavlich wrote, “Republican Senators should vote this nomination down. A co-sponsor of the Pro-Act as Labor Secretary? Absolutely not.”
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson lit into Chavez-DeRemer by listing past issues she joined with Democrats on in Congress, including “Forced unionization of private sector employees.”
Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination found praise on the far left, however. The Young Turks’s host Cenk Uygur wrote, “This is a genius move. She’s the most pro-labor Secretary we could have asked for. @TeamsterSOB delivers on his strategy to court the populist right. @realDonaldTrump steals the Democrats thunder by being pro-labor. And corporate CEOs are howling in anger. Everyone is a winner.”
Moderate Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) also praised the nomination, saying to Chavez-DeRemer, “You will do a phenomenal job!” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Senate president pro tempore, also signaled her support for the pick, “And as an original author of the PRO Act, I’m glad to see Representative Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of the bill I wrote with Representative Scott.”
