LARRY KUDLOW: Give Biden the union elites, while Trump takes the rank-and-file

Joe Biden met with the AFL-CIO union leaders today, repeating his boast that he’s the most pro-union president in American history. 

So you say, Mr. Biden, but we shall see. In fact, while the liberal, left-wing union leaders are lining up for Biden, you can bet that Donald Trump is going to take a record share of the rank-and-file. 

Actually, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien plans to speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week. He’s got 1.3 million members, and I’m going to guess Trump is going to win a big majority of that group. 

Here’s what’s bothering the Teamsters and the rank-and-file of the other unions as well: Joe Biden has created an affordability crisis for typical working families. 

MORTGAGE REFINANCE FALLS AGAIN, DESPITE HOMEOWNERS SITTING ON $17T IN EQUITY 

Their kitchen tables have been squeezed by a 20% rise in overall prices during Biden’s term, including a 20% hike in groceries, a near-40% rise in energy, and don’t forget gasoline is still $3.50 — compared to just over $2 when Trump left the White House. Looking at the actual numbers, average weekly earnings during Mr. Trump’s term rose $5,065 — to $65,216. 

Through May 2024, during Mr. Biden’s term, those same weekly earnings declined by $2,968 — really call it $3,000 — to $62,248. In other words, Biden has given working folks a pay cut, whereas Trump gave them a sizeable pay increase. 

Ronald Reagan used to call it take-home pay, and that's been the soft underbelly of the Biden economy for 3.5 years, and that’s why he’s losing votes among union and non-union workers. 

In an important sense, these numbers are the backbone of Mr. Trump’s working-class coalition, including Blacks, Hispanics, Whites and young people. It’s a powerful movement. Take a listen to President Trump last night.

FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Every day, we are welcoming more Americans to our ranks. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, young people, old people, union members, non-union members. Basically, everyone is joining our movement because it's a movement of common sense.

While the ultra-liberal union leaders stand behind Joe Biden’s open-border illegal migrant catastrophe, the rank-and-file families want an end to the criminal gangs and the destruction of public safety.  

Add to that the autoworkers union, which has a very liberal, left leadership, but the workers themselves are furious at the Green New Deal and the mandated EVs that are going to create jobs in China and lose jobs in America. On top of all that, none of these folks like the woke, ultra-liberal values of Joe Biden and his crowd. 

Typical mainstream working families don’t like the anti-religious bias of the Bidens, or the DEI regulations affecting virtually every business in the country and therefore every worker. Nor do they like gender-sex mandates in schools, teachers and curriculums, including Biden’s insistence that biological males be allowed to participate in female athletics. 

Trump would turn all that around by ending the EV mandates, opening the fossil fuel spigots to slash energy costs and inflation, cutting middle-class taxes and protecting American industry and its workforce from unfair trading practices. 

So, Biden will win the union leaders, but Trump is going to take most of the rank-and-file who go to work every day, play by the rules, work with their hands and proudly wear their hard hats. You can bet on that. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the July 10, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."