September 22, 2023

Biden Flips the Script on Republicans in New Pro-Union Ad

The president lets Nikki Haley and Tim Scott speak for themselves.

Kyle Mazza/AP

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In an effort to tout his support for unions, President Biden doesn’t appear to have to do much talking. In fact, a new campaign ad is relying on the real words of his Republican opponents to do just that.

“When you have a president that’s constantly saying, ‘Go union, go union,’ this is what you get,” Nikki Haley says in one of the clips featured in Biden’s latest campaign video. Also included is Tim Scott complaining about Biden’s push to include $86 million in the American Rescue Plan in order to help troubled union pensions.

As my colleague Noah Lanard noted, Haley and Scott have been on an anti-labor streak in recent days. It’s a strange position considering that 2023 has seen the launch of several historic strikes, many of which are widely supported among Americans. That includes auto workers at the Big Three and Hollywood writers and actors. Biden, who frequently claims to be the “most pro-union president” in US history, has openly supported the ongoing strikes, prompting Republicans to pounce.

Of course, Biden’s union record isn’t without scrutiny either. Some speculate that Biden’s loyalty and repeated claims of being the “most pro-union president” in US history will be tested once the economic effects of the UAW strike become more pressing. Still, it’s pretty striking to see the glaring dissonance between Democrats and Republicans. In the case of Haley and Scott, all Biden really had to do was flip the script on them.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

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