Summary

Trump announced plans to block Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, drawing backlash from many steelworkers who previously supported him.

While some, including United Steelworkers president David McCall, oppose the deal over concerns about job security and unfulfilled promises, others fear blocking it could harm the struggling U.S. steel industry.

Trump’s stance has been criticized as a “gut punch” by union leaders like Jason Zugai, who had expected him to support the deal after the election.

Critics argue Trump has offered no alternative plan to invest in U.S. steel plants if the deal is blocked.

  • @[email protected]
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    1288 days ago

    The collective amnesia / cognitive dissonance in regards to the grifter in chief’s first term is astonishing.

    • @[email protected]
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      37 days ago

      You have that shit blaring at you with the screens bright fast ads, pumped full of high fructose, QVC is now … the entire internet… no education on disinformation, tired and worn down from overworking and penny pinching… what do we expect from people?

    • @[email protected]
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      448 days ago

      … and the years leading up to it, and the four years since … shit has been ooozing out of both ends of that waste of humanity for a long time.

    • @[email protected]
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      228 days ago

      Yeah like you couldn’t botch a worldwide pandemic worse than he did but enough Americans seemed to think he deserved another term. I only hope one of the other random viruses don’t get out of control again…cause that’s what stops them, hope right?

      • @[email protected]
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        87 days ago

        I know someone mourning the death of their younger brother to COVID who still voted for Trump.

        The dude literally helped kill their younger brother, through his “leadership”, but they don’t see it that way.

  • @[email protected]
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    8 days ago

    Trump’s stance has been criticized as a “gut punch” by union leaders like Jason Zugai, who had expected him to support the deal after the election.

    Remember in 2018 when that Trump supporter went on TV to cry about how Trump “wasn’t hurting the right people” during the longest government shutdown in history? Yeah, we’ve already been through the circus that is a Trump presidency, so sit down and STFU. You clowns are getting exactly what you voted for. Trump has never cared about you and never will.

  • Zement
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    968 days ago

    Wait… UNIONS are surprised TRUMP fucks them over?

    • @[email protected]
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      8 days ago

      People in unions love voting conservative. They generally have the political acumen of a sea sponge and are easy to manipulate. When they lose their union, their benefits and have their income cut in half it will be Bidens fault for not putting more protections in place when he had the power to do so.

    • @[email protected]
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      258 days ago

      It’s a blue collar union, and blue collar workers (regardless of union status) overwhelmingly vote conservative.

      • @[email protected]
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        227 days ago

        So they are getting what they asked for. I don’t know why they would want to destroy their own jobs and opportunities, but here we are.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 days ago

      I see this being a common theme over the next year. Trump supporters shocked when policy changes impact them negatively.

      • @[email protected]
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        27 days ago

        There will still be a core of them that will continue to find creative ways to blame Democrats. Anything to avoid taking personal responsibility and admitting they were wrong about something that they made such an integral aspect of their life.

        • @[email protected]
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          37 days ago

          This is very true I live in red area of a red state and a common theme is a Democrat leader is immediately blamed for all problems upon taking office yet when it’s a Republican “you have to give them time to fix the problems”. I wouldn’t be surprised if Republicans are still blaming Democrats for problems at the midterm elections.

    • @[email protected]
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      298 days ago

      I, for one, would like to congratulate the Leopards for being the number one mentioned animal for 2025.

      I’d also like to congratulate all those who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party. May you all get exactly what you’ve wanted from the party!

      • @[email protected]
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        27 days ago

        Unfortunately, there will be lots of collateral damage. Including children that did not choose to be born in shithole states that don’t think they should exist.

    • @[email protected]
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      167 days ago

      A dude got kicked out of my union for wearing MAGA gear in Canada.

      Ok, it was more because he was a total asshole who barely did his job. He has a very common first name and I didn’t know his last name, so my complaint about him made sure to single him out as “the guy that wears gear supporting a known union-buster to union work.”

  • Rentlar
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    348 days ago

    You wanted this over a Black woman president, rural Pennsylvania, and Trump-supporting union members. Those jobs ain’t comin.

    • @[email protected]
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      88 days ago

      Biden and Harris both opposed this merger, as does the United Steelworkers Union. This isn’t a gotcha moment.

      • Rentlar
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        148 days ago

        The problem is that there is no alternate plan for the steelworkers there. Not even a concept. Besides subsisting on existing Biden’s IRA and IIJA money there is no federal help planned. Harris had support for small business in her plan, and continuing the progress of Biden, including the CHIPS act for domestic silicon production, Pete Buttigieg’s rail plans that would demand locally produced steel so on and so forth. Trump’s answer would “weave” into something different every time you would ask.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 days ago

      This is perfect. We need to choose increasingly lower pixel shocked Pikachu for this kind of news, until it’s just a vague yellow splat with red highlights and everyone still knows what it means.

  • @[email protected]
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    208 days ago

    Don’t really get why Unions would be happy to sell to a foreign company. Short article kind of suggests it’s contentious. Biden and other union members opposed it.

    Not sure this is the dig on Trump people think it is.

    • @[email protected]
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      148 days ago

      US Steel is super rocky and blocking a buy out by Nippon will likely mean some sort of deal with Cleveland-Cliffs. The difference is Nippon has negotiated that they would maintain union contracts and upgrade facilities in SW Pennsylvania whereas Cleveland-Cliffs will almost certainly shut the plants down.

      Frankly, it’s a bandaid that eventually needs to be ripped off. USX hasn’t reinvested into their processes pretty much ever, decided to spend their time trying to circumvent Clean Air Act laws for 50 years and then bitch and moan that it would be too expensive to become compliant.

      The Mon Valley has terrible air quality and it’s directly from three primary polluters, which are all USX facilities.

    • @[email protected]
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      98 days ago

      U.S. Steel has brand new currently non union facilities in Arkansas. For sure anyone buying the company definitely wants these.

      Nippon Steel says they would keep older (unionized) facilities in Pennsylvania open. Union leadership has said that they don’t believe them.

      U.S. Steel has said that they might close older facilities if the sale doesn’t go through. Union members who work at the plants say that they believe Nippon Steel will protect their jobs and disagree with leadership.

      IMO this is defyingly more of a “that’s capitalism baybee!” than anything else.

      • @[email protected]
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        57 days ago

        Sounds… complicated. But basically seems like the workers are going to be fucked either way.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 days ago

        Nippon Steel says they would keep older (unionized) facilities in Pennsylvania open. Union leadership has said that they don’t believe them.

        That promise plus $9 is absolutely worth the price of a coffee. Unless the price of coffee already went up again, then maybe not.

  • @[email protected]
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    198 days ago

    Man, media can really frame anything to get people to support it. Suddenly folks here love corporate mega mergers.

    • @[email protected]
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      88 days ago

      Not just that, but a mega merger that Biden and Harris opposed! This isn’t a Democratic politics position. Or even something supported by the steel workers in general. It’s just some specific workers that were in the place that was supposed to get investment after the merger. The “haha, shoulda voted Democratic” reaction is deeply dumb.

    • @[email protected]
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      47 days ago

      Yeah. “We found a union member completely unaware that they’re absolutely statistically guaranteed to be fucked by this merger, who is also shocked that Trump doesn’t give a shit what any union member thinks.”