This Port Union Strike Could Just Be Our October Surprise

The port union strike could just be our October Surprise.

Last year (August 2023) Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), made a speech decrying replacing human workers with automation. What makes this speech notable is Dagget’s attack on President Biden, exclaiming that automation is being pushed “to eliminate good paying American jobs, ILA jobs! And where is our government in all this? President Biden declares he wants to protect American companies, pay decent wages … how can this administration allow foreign companies like Maersk and other foreign companies to get away with this? Mark my words! There’s going to be an explosion and the ILA and dockers around the world are going to light the fuse!”

Several things of interest can be taken from this speech: Dagget, the one leading the port union strike, is angry with President Biden; after he expresses his outrage towards him, he follows with a threat of lighting “the fuse”. Its safe to say that he had a strike in mind. It is obvious that Dagget is not pro-Biden. Kamala Harris has expressed support for the dockers strike, but nonetheless this is a strike against her administration (she is the Vice President at the end of the day). When it comes the public’s trust in someone for the economy, the numbers show that Americans have more confidence in Trump than Harris. So if these strikes continue and cripple the US economy, this is not going to be good for the Democrat campaign. As NBC reports: “As polls show Harris trailing Trump on the question of who is best suited to handle the economy, the work stoppage puts Democrats in a bind.” The question is, for which candidate is Dagget doing this strike for? From what we can see, this strike is being done for the advancement of Trump. Dagget appeared on Fox News — the most (and only) conservative news outlet on mainstream television — to complain about the Biden administration, saying: “time for Washington to put so much pressure on them to take care of us because we took care of them.” Dagget is not only making it very clear and obvious that he is against Biden’s presidency, but that he has warmed up to a Trump presidency.

Harold Dagget, ILA president, with former president Trump

In November of 2023, the Journal of Commerce reported how “the ILA is also considering a big switch in its political allies.” The same journal reported how Dagget planned “to meet former president Donald Trump in Florida, who is looking for the union’s support in his upcoming bid for a second term.” So we know that Dagget is angry with Biden’s administration (so why would this strike be being done for the advancement of Harris?), and we know that Dagget has been warming up to Trump, and we know that Trump is seeking the support of the ILA. Dagget also said that Trump is now “looking to take care of things for the unions,” — so Dagget sees Trump as an ally. He went on to say: “Biden’s a nice man, don’t get me wrong … But I am going to go sit and talk to Trump and see what he’s got to say.” In November of 2023, Dagget did indeed have a meeting with Trump and recounted: “We had a wonderful, productive 90-minute meeting where I expressed to President Trump the threat of automation to American workers … President Trump promised to support the ILA in its opposition to automated terminals in the U.S. Mr. Trump also listened to my concerns about Federal ‘Right To Work’ laws which undermines unions and their ability to represent and fight for its membership.”

If the strike continues, it will cripple the economy, and who will be blamed? Biden’s administration. Who is running on the Democrat side? Biden’s vice-president. This means that the blame will be put on Biden and, by extension, Harris. This leaves Trump as the one who — being outside of and against the administration — who will the hero for the economy. This whole strike feels like a psyop. This could be our October Surprise.

print