International Brotherhood of Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien, who previously endorsed both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden for president, spoke at the Republican National Convention. “The Teamsters are not interested in whether you have an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ beside your name,” O’Brien said. “We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help American workers?”

Of course, the Teamsters union, like most unions, does little to help workers. It was the free market, not unionization, that lifted the vast majority of people out of abject poverty during the 20th century. What did Republicans gain for their union pandering? It could be seen as a moral victory that the Teamsters refused to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, although they also refused to endorse former President Donald Trump despite the overwhelming majority of their members favoring the 45th president this November. 

Teamsters, who are mostly white, working-class voters, would have voted for Trump with or without both members of the Republican ticket pandering to union bosses. Harris is deeply unpopular among working-class whites, and the combination of inflation and economic stagnation caused by the Biden-Harris administration’s economic policy, as well as uncontrolled illegal immigration and disastrous foreign policy, are the factors doing most of the heavy lifting. 

The International Longshoremen’s Association walked off the job at midnight on Tuesday, and now would be a terrific time for a Republican Party grounded in sound economics to make a clear, moral argument for the free market to the American people.

As much of North Carolina, Tennessee, and elsewhere in the Southeast suffers from the effects of Hurricane Helene, ILA boss Harold Dagget has vowed to crush the American economy and disrupt life-saving supply chains if his unreasonable demands of a 77% pay increase and the destruction of all technological advancement in his industry are met.

“First week, it will be all over the news — boom, boom, boom,” he said. “Second week, guys who sell cars can’t sell cars because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off. Third week, malls start closing down. They can’t get the goods from China. They can’t sell clothes. They can’t do this. Everything in the United States comes on a ship. They go out of business. Construction workers get laid off because the materials aren’t coming. The steel is not coming in. The lumber is not coming in. They lose their jobs. Everybody is hating the Longshoremen now because now they realize how important our jobs are now.”

The Teamsters, the new apple of the GOP’s eye, announced that they fully support the ILA in its destructive, coercive, and ill-timed strike. “The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, including our members in the freight industry, stand in full solidarity with the International Longshoremen’s Association as they fight for a fair and just contract with the ocean carriers represented by USMX,” they said in a statement on X. 

America lags behind much of the developed world in terms of automation, and the base pay of ILA workers is $81,000 per year. The union already rejected a proposed 50% pay raise. Aside from the fact that the union’s demands are nonsensical and risk the lives and livelihoods of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, the GOP will never out-union Democrats. President Joe Biden, in clear violation of federal law, has refused to intervene, saying, “I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” the law that would force ILA workers back onto the job for 90 days. 

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Republicans agree that certain union bosses are thugs, such as Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, for instance, but so are Sean O’Brien and Harold Daggett. All of them seek to force workers to join unions against their will and all oppose the inevitable technological innovations that will make goods more affordable for the middle class. Trump can win the votes of Teamsters without pandering to the gangsters who are holding the economy hostage. 

The decision to get in bed with the enemies of the free market is yet another example of Republicans stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. 

Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.