So far, the Teamsters union has withheld a 2016 presidential endorsement, but one active union Teamster worker has launched a Facebook page, “Teamsters United For Donald J. Trump.”
“I’m active on the computer with a lot of things,” said Antonio Caracciolo of the Teamsters local 282 in New York. “I set up the Facebook page because there were individuals out there saying different things, arguing on [a website run by] Union Building Trades of New York City, they didn’t want to discuss political stuff on there. They said no politics, but that whole page is politics.”
This spurred Caracciolo into launching his own Facebook page in support of Trump. “I did that with some other Teamsters,” Caracciolo explained to Breitbart News. “We all like Trump.”
When asked why he supports Trump, Caracciolo pointed to trade, slammed NAFTA, and added that Hillary Clinton “was in the initiation process” for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
“We went out and we went against those trade agreements,” he explained. “We need to stop the free trade because it’s hurting our country,” he added. “Basically, this is why Trump is more appealing to me, close the borders … work on the currency manipulation and the trade deficits.”
“Hilary Clinton talks about jobs, but the trade agreements caused Ford to be able to move to Mexico,” Caracciolo countered, saying that cost many Americans their jobs.
He said cracking down on illegal immigration would also mean “more jobs” for Americans. “I believe that if there’s less people in the workforce, or available for work, they got to pay for them. It’s like supply and demand,” he reasoned.
Caracciolo recently joined NPR’s Steve Inskeep to discuss his support for Trump:
INSKEEP: So are there a lot of debates, political arguments going on among Teamsters who support…
CARACCIOLO: Well, the president of our local, which has about 4,800 people, I don’t think he’d want to tell at a union meeting, ask how many guys want Donald Trump, stand up. They’re shying away from that.
INSKEEP: Because there’d be a lot of them, you think?
CARACCIOLO: Absolutely.
INSKEEP: But it sounds like there’d also be some for Bernie Sanders.
CARACCIOLO: There are some for Bernie Sanders — not for Hillary, very little.
INSKEEP: Anybody else? Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio?
CARACCIOLO: No, no.
INSKEEP: John Kasich?
CARACCIOLO: Yes.
INSKEEP: Why him?
CARACCIOLO: He talks straight.
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