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At West Michigan rally, Vance stands behind Trump's comments on firing workers who strike

Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance takes questions from reporters following a speech at Cordes Inc, a trucking company in Byron Center, Michigan, on August 14, 2024.
Dustin Dwyer
/
Michigan Public
Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance takes questions from reporters following a speech at Cordes Inc, a trucking company in Byron Center, Michigan, on August 14, 2024.

Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance defended Donald Trump’s statements about firing striking workers at an event today in Kent County.

Trump made the comments in a live conversation online with Elon Musk on Monday.

“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump said to Musk during their conversation on X, “You walk in and you just say… ‘You wanna quit? Then go on strike.’ I won’t mention the name of the company, .but they go on strike and you say ‘That’s OK you’re all gone.’”

Vance was visiting Byron Center, a Grand Rapids suburb when a reporter asked him about the reaction to the comments from union leaders.

Vance stood behind Trump’s comments.

“Donald Trump was not talking about firing Michigan auto workers, he was talking about firing the employees of Twitter who used their power to censor American citizens,” Vance said. “Those people ought to be fired.”

Twitter, the former name of X, permanently banned Donald Trump from its platform after the violent attacks on the U.S. capitol building on January 6, 2021. Twitter suspended Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

The company also banned other right wing users for promoting hate speech on the site. Those moves were before Elon Musk bought Twitter and rebranded the company “X.” Trump’s account has been restored on the site.

Despite Vance’s defense of Trump’s comments, union leaders have spoken out against them.

On Tuesday, the United Auto Workers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board saying Trump’s comments were an attempt to threaten and intimidate workers.

Sean O’Brien, the head of the Teamsters union, called Trump’s comments “economic terrorism” in a statement to Politico.

“Well look, I like the Teamsters president, I think he’s a good guy, but I think he’s wrong about this,” Vance said in Byron Center.

Dustin Dwyer reports enterprise and long-form stories from Michigan Public's West Michigan bureau.