President Donald Trump savaged the Washington Post on Sunday, suggesting that their employees should go on strike.
“I think a really long strike would be a great idea,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Employees would get more money and we would get rid of Fake News for an extended period of time!”
Trump commented on the dispute between Washington Post employees and the owner Jeff Bezos after more than 400 employees signed a letter demanding more money.
The Washington Post guild released a video montage of employees complaining about a “profound unwillingness” and “profound resistance” from upper management to issues like gender and racial disparities in salary, retirement benefits, and severance pay.
The president again suggested that the Washington Post should register as a lobbying organization because they were owned by Bezos.
Washington Post employees want to go on strike because Bezos isn’t paying them enough. I think a really long strike would be a great idea. Employees would get more money and we would get rid of Fake News for an extended period of time! Is @WaPo a registered lobbyist?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2018
#DearJeffBezos, we workers of The Washington Post have been bargaining for a year and have little to show for it because The Post won’t meet us halfway on much of anything.
We love The Post. We know you do too. Our work has earned us more than what The Post is offering. pic.twitter.com/kPyju1ES6r
— PostGuild (@PostGuild) June 14, 2018
Some of the reporters at the Washington Post reacted to Trump’s suggestion on Twitter, asserting that they had no plans to launch a strike.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha https://t.co/GjCbPYZFAt
— Steven Rich (@dataeditor) June 17, 2018
*Checks email*
*Checks snail mail*
*Checks Bat Signal*
….
Guys, I don't think Post employees are talking about striking. https://t.co/Rz9Iw5qyb9
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) June 17, 2018
The World Cup has been a good reason to ignore his weekend tweets but lol wut https://t.co/uqYmkCgZOx
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) June 17, 2018
The Trump Administration has taken repeated actions to undermine labor unions, but here Trump has a kind word for a union only because it's a way for him to stick it to Jeff Bezos.
Why didn't Trump speak out on behalf of the thousands of underpaid teachers who went on strike? https://t.co/QPgGGFVm5h
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) June 17, 2018
No one at The Post has heard anything about any strike, so why would Trump make that up? Some answers in this piece on Trump’s antagonism toward Bezos: https://t.co/7EL9lMagAG https://t.co/MBYj13UQ7b
— Marc Fisher (@mffisher) June 17, 2018
I haven't heard a word about this. Is everyone striking without me? https://t.co/iyLL0u6oZX
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) June 17, 2018
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