Andy Puzder Is Even Worse Than You Thought

He’s so bad that Breitbart won’t even defend him:

“Pro-American immigration reformers and advocates for higher-wages are hammering Donald Trump’s selection of a cheap-labor, migration-boosting employer to run the Department of Labor.

The opponents — some of whom backed Trump’s pro-American, immigration-reducing promises in the election — are rallying opposition to Puzder’s appointment via the twitter hashtag, #NeverPuzder. …”

What happened to #DrainTheSwamp? Did anyone have a clue that #DrainTheSwamp meant Betsy DeVos, Tom Ricketts and Andy Puzder in Trump’s Cabinet? I certainly didn’t. I remember Trump hammering ¡Jeb! over his ties to these people:

“In early 2015 (before Trump entered the race), Puzder participated in a press call warning the Republican candidates for president to follow Jeb Bush’s “lead” on immigration. “People vote with their hearts … our values dictate we should be the party of immigration reform,” he said.

By pretty much any measure, this attitude was totally repudiated in the GOP primary by Trump and his supporters. Trump mocked Bush mercilessly for calling unauthorized immigration an “act of love,” and his own characterizations of immigrants tended to focus on their potential to kill American citizens. And many Republican voters — voting with their hearts — sided with Trump.

But Puzder’s feelings about unauthorized immigrants are much more Bushian than Trumpian.

In a 2013 panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, as Frum pointed out on Twitter, Puzder said that immigrant workers were often more grateful for their jobs than native ones — an attitude that contrasts starkly with Trump’s crusade against companies that “replace” native workers with non-native ones so they can pay lower wages.

And during the 2015 call, Puzder expressed sympathy for unauthorized workers who “live in fear of being deported, losing what they’ve built and being separated from their families.”

Trump has made that fear much more widespread and much more palpable for millions of immigrants. And Andy Puzder is now in a position to try to impede Trump (and Sessions) from using the full power of the federal government to enforce immigration law. …”

Yes, we should be very worried.

There is no doubt about it now: this was by far the worst Cabinet pick yet. It also speaks volumes that Kris Kobach was passed over for DHS, but Andy Puzder got Labor Secretary. How do you defend that?

Update: Robert Reich, who I sometimes agree with on labor issues, has this to say about him:

“Apparently, Donald Trump will pick Andy Puzder as his Secretary of Labor.

Having myself served as Secretary of Labor, I cannot imagine someone more unsuited to the job of advancing the cause of working people in America.

If Puzner is confirmed, the working people who voted for Trump will suffer. …”

Trump’s decision to pick Andy Puzder as Labor Secretary is like nominating Ebenezer Scrooge for Secretary of Christmas. I hope the Senate votes against his confirmation.

About Hunter Wallace 12378 Articles
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79 Comments

  1. Between this pick and attacking the United Steelworkers, this day couldn’t be much more worse for Trump.

    These White men in these unions voted for Trump. I mean seriously how the hell does he think he won Michigan and PA – by appealing to the CruzCrew?

    • Jones and his boss Leo Gerard are acting like spoiled brats. Look what Trump has accomplished for them without even being inaugurated.

    • The only explanation is that Trump never believed a word he said. There is no other reasonable explanation. Even putting aside the policy implications of these appointments which are bad enough, he’s rewarding people who shit all over him. Pence and Preibus played ball when it mattered, so it’s reasonable to give them something, but not the whole administration.

      I spent all of 2012 arguing that Obama was better for the average non-rich white person than Romney. That may yet end up being true about Hillary.

      • ‘The only explanation is that Trump never believed a word he said. There is no other reasonable explanation.’

        Trump is God/King one day then the devil the next.

        Lew, you prefer some sort of Socialism don’t you?

        So, entrepreneurs and business people are not high on your list.

      • ‘The only explanation is that Trump never believed a word he said. There is no other reasonable explanation.’

        Or he’s a hotel billionaire that knows little about politics. Then again, activists who said they were from New York did warn us about him a year ago, but its not like there was any better to choose from. Hillary, Sanders, Jeb! and the other Republican trash.

      • He hasn’t even taken office yet. A good leader controls his subordinates and has the ability to harness their talents.

        Give the man at least six months before you call him a liar.

        His victory gave us some breathing room. Hillary would have been a disaster from day one. Immigration was her weapon. If Trump does nothing else but stop immigration I’m a happy man.

    • He didn’t attack the steel workers, he attacked Chuck Jones, the president of the SW local that covers the Carrier plant in Indiana. Jones attacked Trump first, saying he didn’t save enough jobs. Trump said Jones should spend more time doing something for his members and less time talking and rasing dues.

      • Jones simply told the truth about Trump’s deal with Carrier that conservative media had hyped all this week. I personally did not know the facts that Jones put forth and was glad to get the facts that I wasn’t getting from cuck conservative media.

        Trump got pissed about it and lashed out saying “no wonder companies are leaving America.” He couldn’t refute anything Jones had said because Jones exposed the hype job being carried out by cuck media like Hannity.

        The same day, Trump picks anti-labor fast food mogul to head up labor – another smooth move that only antagonized labor further – people he absolutely needs to win in 2020.

        • Trump’s pick of Puzder today, aside, you are spreading misinformation here, period.

          For a start, what truths Jones told and what you say you didn’t know, are simply what most of us do know already and were not naive enough to ever think otherwise–no, every single job at Carrier, or any other company, is NOT going to be saved. As the owner of this site right here has put it, America is not going to be like it was in the glory days of the 1950s and 60s when American industrialism and its reach was at a zenith. Anyone who thinks otherwise, and there are far too many blue collar workers in this camp, is grossly behind, not the times, but the eras. There has been too much and too many advances in automation and manufacturing and production methods and technology in general; there are far too many more ambitious people these days who start their own businesses and are capable of supplying intense competition and thus lower prices for goods, and lower wages for many workers; there is too much competition from other countries, it is no longer 1946 and Europe’s industrial capacity destroyed and the rest of the world not even capable; we now have Asia and more than a few other countries that give competition. Several other points in this vein that if you don’t know you need to research and get a handle on this subject and the state of business in the 21st Century.

          Trump’s comment about “no wonder companies are leaving America” was aimed at union leadership, not the workers.

          • I don’t need a lecture about business today. As a matter of fact you can go give that lecture to Trump because he HAS been spreading the lie that America would be great again for the past year and that America would be like 1950 all over again as far as economics were concerned. Did I ever believe that shit for a minute? Hell no! I believe in secession and still believe that is the only thing that will work for the South. I supported him for one reason – that damn wall and getting these browns shits out of my country as much as possible

            Having said that, Trump and cuck media DID act as though Trump saved every damn job and you know they did. Go listen to that idiot Hannity and Dobbs and the rest of conservative media and get the facts.

            Jones set the record straight and yes a LOT of people including me thought he had saved ALL the jobs because that is what these idiots in media who support Trump were pushing and I admit I believed it and was praising Trump like crazy earlier in the week to my family. Trump was also content to allow them to push that nonsense and went berserk when Jones cleared the air.

          • In other words, you do need the lecture on business. You did believe the shit for a minute. You did think all the jobs were going to be saved. And you are embarrassed by it and reacting against me for my posts.

            Moreover, I didn’t see any reports that claimed ALL the jobs were going to be saved. They all reported about the actual number that is going to stay. I didn’t hear or read anyone who said that all the jobs were going to be saved.

            What are you doing getting your information from Hannity and the conservative media for in the first place???

          • I’m reacting because you said I was spreading misinfo when you are clearly wrong. Not everyone “simply knew” what Trump was claiming. No one was reading the documents of the deal he made with Carrier. Everything pushed was IMPLIED.

            If Trump wasn’t pushing the idea he had saved all the jobs then why did he get so upset when he was called on it?

            Why didn’t he agree with Jones and then state something similar to what you said above? Instead he went on twitter to attack some little local union guy and blame him for the jobs leaving instead of United Technologies. Brilliant.

            Jones stated that many people thought Trump and Pence (due to their boasting) had saved all the jobs and that the record needed to be set straight. He said Trump was lying to the American people about how many jobs he had saved.

            I think Jones went too far but it is still no excuse for how Trump reacted to a local union leader with very little power. Hours later, Trump went on to appoint the most anti-labor man he could find for sec of labor – a total middle finger to unions. It was a YUGE stupid move. Period.

            My father and grandfather were big IBEW union guys and I can tell you that these unions are a very tight community. Union men came out big for Trump. Trump made a mistake attacking that guy

          • You said Trump attacked steel workers. He didn’t. He attacked Jones. In your response to me, you then implied Trump was talking about steel workers with the “no wonder” comment. He wasn’t. He was talking about Jones and union leaders.

            “Little Guy” union leaders like Jones can cause companies to leave the country by encouraging and outright telling their members to never compromise on wages and continue to make unrealistic demands regarding benefits and such in the face of knowing the jobs and plants will be moved elsewhere so the business can stay competitive in the market.

            Which report stated all the jobs were being saved? Produce one or admit you are lying. Produce one of Trump’s statements or tweets saying that all the jobs were going to be saved or admit you are lying.

            I was a member of a building trades union for about 15 years. Trump got about 40 percent of total union members, i.e., public, private, manufacturing, teamsters, etc. I don’t know of any union leaders that came out for him. I doubt he got 20 percent of building trades member votes, probably less than 10 percent. They are likely the most hardcore Democrat and anti-Republican of all unions. I never met one who admitted ever voting Republican.

            Union leaders today sound like they work for the ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center during the hours they are not either praising to the high heavens Democrats like Obama and Hillary Clinton, or defending Black Lives Matter and Muslims while denouncing any pro-white organization or speaker.

            You told me to go listen to Hannity to get the facts.

    • I am already beginning to wonder weather Ted Cruz would have been better. What happened to Kris Kobach? He is our SOS her in Kansas. He is an excellent man, but there is little he can do on the state level. I am very concerned about what I am seeing / hearing. What about the DACA children? I heard Trump make some very disturbing comments about them as well. Not good. +FD

      • Not picking Kobach is what has led a lot of us to go on a major cynicism tour. It was the bone we needed thrown at us to calm us and instead he passes him by and yet picks this anti-labor hyper capitalist piece of garbage.

        • Trump is not trying to appeal to us. He was never the savior.
          He will buy us some much needed time if he remains true on his pledge on stopping immigration. However, if he fails to secure the border, he is of no use and we move forward from there.

          • We gotta move forward from *here,* Ronnie. The guy proved that whites will not continue to acquiesce to our own destruction. That’s it. It’s solely up to us to take things from here. We literally cannot wait.

            People should be starting to organize on the local level, including county ones especially, as that’s where we can now wield our power. And giving Trump as much trouble as possible for every reneged promise.

      • Yes the statement on Dreamers! I forgot. Yeah he is talking about giving Dreamers amnesty as part of a “deal.” LOL. Of course I will admit that I think this was a media rumor..I think.

    • “Enrichissez Vous” Pierre Guizot. If he’s putting a shark like this to protect the troutfarm it’s bad.

  2. Non-whites being used for cheap labor could accelerate the dystopia. Whites will be angry that they’re our of work and non-whites angry that their work is bottom of the totem poll work. However, given a choice, I wouldn’t intentionally promote accelerationism now. If the state still survives, then accelerationism wasn’t worth it.

  3. It would be worth it to protest this pick formally.

    A man who sells burgers? In charge of labor laws? Fuck that.

  4. So we’re attacking his labor pick yet who is it again that provided the guy with his fortune? We’ve funded many of the monsters that are out to do us in. Americans need to stop spending money at places where it is against their best interests!

      • For some reason, I have hardly ever chosen Hardee’s when selecting a fast food joint. You can count on the fingers of one hand and have a couple of fingers left the times I’ve ate at one during my entire life. I’ve never thought much of it until now. The few times I have ate there, I can’t say I had any complaint about the food, it might have even been better than other fast food burgers. The ones I’ve been in were not dirty or anything like that, either. Nor was the crowd eating at them objectionable or anything. But obviously there is something about it that has always made me not even consider it. The handful of times I did eat at one was either when there was no other restaurant in the town, or only one or two other places and on the particular days I was just flat burned out on the others.

        • Mr. Burns, you should try to avoid eating at fast food joints altogether. That junk is not fit to be consumed by White folks.

          • I’ll take that under consideration. But sometimes I like a double quarter pounder with cheese or a Wendy’s double or chicken. Occasionally I like Long John Silvers and Arby’s.

          • If I MUST do fast food Burger King has the best burger but I would rather be at taco Bell or if you can find one Dairy Queen, especially their double dipped vanilla cones.

          • I’m all for $15/hour wages for burger flippers. That would put many of these joints out of business, at least until robot replacements come in.

        • That’s Arby’s not Hardee’s. Hardee’s died some fifteen to twenty years ago when they got bought out by west coast chain Carl’s Jr and had their recipes entirely replaced by those of Carl’s Jr. I remember Hardee’s burger’s in the Midwest in the 80’s and 90’s, the burgers were fried on stainless steel griddles and were more like McDonalds quarter pounders with Mushrooms and Swiss instead of ketchup and mustard. Then I moved out west and became familiar with the menu of Carl’s Jr’s flame broiled fare. When I moved back to the midwest I was startled to find the exact same menu in “Hardee’s” with the generic Orange and Brown Hardee’s logo replaced with Carl’s Jr’s Yellow Star. I then knew Hardee’s lived on in name only, their menu was long gone.

      • That’s Carl’s Jr who always had the supermodels pretending to enjoy stuffing down burgers in their commercials. They bought out Hardee’s around the turn of the millennium and put in their menu, flavors, and even their yellow star logo on the locations. Hardee’s when independent tasted radically different than they do now. They have the exact same taste and menu as west coast Carl’s Jr.

  5. Instead of telling non-white immigrants and/or invaders to go back, whites should pose a question:

    “Why don’t you want to go back to your country? Do you hate your own people and culture? Do you hate your own non-white nation and prefer to live in white majority nation? Do you not want to live with your kind? Do you not want your daughter to marry a man of her race? And why did you choose a white-majority nation as immigration-destination? Why not a non-white nation? Do you think white people are better than non-whites? Do you prefer white people over your own race? Why did you leave your own people to live with white people?”

    Isn’t it strange that non-whites bitch about how whites are not ‘welcoming’ and ‘accepting’ enough of their kind, but these people reject their own kind, flee their own nations, and want to come and live with whites?

    If they can’t stand their own kind, why should whites stand them?

    Why should whites accept a people who reject their own kind?

    • LOL.

      Most non-Whites have no love for ordinary White people. They just want they wealth and resources, they can care less about the common White folks.

      This is why I support outsourcing and the TPP! 🙂

  6. I always said in the beginning the goal of the 2016 election was ELIMINATING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS and bashing through the control grid. We have done that. I also said if Trump didn’t accomplish much of anything, by eliminating the Control Grid at least temporarily we have a shot

    • He is right some of the time – like he was dead on about the polls.

      The fact is that Sundance railed against the establishment and uniparty and now he is defending them for “tactical” reasons

      I’m not buying it. It sounds far fetched and like it is just a lot of hot air in order to explain these lame picks of Trump’s

      I hope all these explanations about secret plans are correct. However, I heard this same shit during the Bush years – Bush had secret plans that never came – Bush was simply wrong. Period..

  7. I am very grateful to Trump for having postponed his well-deserved retirement so he can MAGA. Do you think he needs all this aggravation? He could be playing golf at Mar-a Lago with Alice Cooper right now! If he didn’t run we almost certainly would be dealing with Grandma Cankles and her criminal antics instead.

    If you don’t like Trump then use the extra time his presidency gives you to prepare for secession from the Union or emigration to Bolivia. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a41047ec438fc10aee01dada6cebbfd56a213b298b4735ae90e160c1e14e265b.gif

    • You are saying we should not engage in constructive criticism? It is up to us to apply the pressure. If we don’t, who will? The posting of MAGA is over. That was the campaign. This is governing. I am not liking a lot of what I am seeing / hearing. I am not interested in a cult of personality, I am interested in policy! +FD

      • I know pro-whites who supported him precisely because he’s a narcissist who ‘wants to be loved.’ The thing about narcissists, though, is that they don’t care where they get their adulation from. It’s simply about them.

        • Well said, Lorax.

          Narcissists normally treat others like tools and then throw them away when they no longer have any use for them.

  8. This article presupposes that we need to artificially inflate wages for people who flip burgers in an air conditioned building. If you think fast food workers need to get paid more then by all means give them tips! Why wait for the government? Be the change you want to see in the world!

    “Trump’s decision to pick Andy Puzder as Labor Secretary is like nominating Ebenezer Scrooge for Secretary of Christmas.”

    Now substitute the words “Ebenezer Scrooge” with “responsible adult” and see how the sentence sounds.

    I mean what a retarded move picking someone with a successful track record managing such a large labor force without bankrupting the company. What does he know about anything?

    • It’s a propaganda coupe for the left, Fast Food labor is considered the worst work in America by 99% of the public. Trump should have known this and found someone acceptable to the blue state voters he flipped in the Great Lakes for that key labor position.

  9. Imagine if Trump’s Cabinet picks so far would have been announced in October. Now imagine if Trump supporters would have found out he was meeting with the likes of Romney and Al Gore.

    I’m 100% sure Trump would have lost the election. He would have lost badly.

    • Although if you’d told me that Clinton’s first speech after her drubbing in the election would be to defend alleged Child Rapists/Grooming Gang at Comet Ping Pong I’d have also expected her to lose. She certainly has her priorities straight there.

    • This Fast Food pick would have definitely lost the rustbelt. Everything about the Fast Food industry is toxic in the minds of 99% of Americans, unanimously considered the absolute worst jobs and the absolute worst food.

  10. Shows that Trump isn t very ideological.

    He tends to tell the room what they want to hear unless they are hostile media then he insults them back .

    Latter Day Saint Mormons tend to be this way

  11. Trump also met this week with the NATO commander who supported, argued for and oversaw the destruction of Libya. Pence also fired General Flynn’s son from the transition team for tweeting about pizzagate which shows Pence is sensitive to the media’s concerns about “fake” news. Finally, Trump said we’re going to work something out on the Dreamers.

  12. Sundance is generally good, but he’s not perfect. He missed on the monster vote. 72,000,000 people did not turn out for Trump. Now, he’s just a cheerleader.

  13. Sorry for the movie choice here, but this sums up a lot of the buyer’s remorse that people will eventually have when it comes to Trump’s Presidency. At least the White homeowner actually meant what he said, and did what he said he was going to do. I’d rather have this guy running the country.

  14. I fear this appointment means “immigration reform” through the back door. It seems, with few exceptions, that Trump is giving the GOP establishment everything it wanted. How do you #Draintheswamp and buck the #Riggedsystem with picks like this?

    Difficult as it may be, let’s suspend judgement for now and see what Trump actually does in the first 100 days.

  15. Trump isn’t in office yet, if he didn’t play ball with the scum like Ryan, they might be calling for a coup. By all appearances, a terrible, terrible pick, but at this moment we probably over-estimate his security. Consider the degree of hate he’s getting for Sessions and Bannon from the people he has to make nice with to avoid getting impeached. Let’s wait and see.

    • That’s how I see the Generals he put in, perhaps his picks along with Sessions and Bannon, the rest he let Pence, Priebus, and Ryan have their way as he may be insecure and fear the congress will move against him. Looks like he is trying to play ball with the RNC to avert that and trying to make sure the Army is on his side should hell brake loose.

  16. The best case scenario goes like this. Trump focuses mainly on getting an economic recovery going properly, and he succeeds in that. He also acts on the border and on illegals (in part because people like Ann Coulter badger him to do so). The glow of a recovery rubs off on nativist policies, making “Trumpism” as popular as “Reaganism” as a brand.

    That’s not the only way things could go. It’s the sunniest possibility.

  17. Disappointing to say the least, although Hilary Clinton’s picks would have reflected the oligarchy as well, they would have been from different sides of the big money crowd, but they would have been the money crowd nevertheless. I guess asking that the Secretary of Labor would actually been in the labor movement, instead of a corporate parasite is asking too much.

  18. I’m gonna stick with “Pudzer.” It rolls off the tongue easy. It also describes him better. He’s a pud.

  19. Here is an interesting perspective about the appointment. Mind blowing that employers are kept from really verifying anything because that would be ‘da rasis’.

    “The Dept. of Homeland Security now has the responsibility for telling employers how to scrutinize hiring documents; as you can see below DHS doesn’t want employers being critical.

    In short, to avoid running afoul of EEO laws (ie avoiding lawsuits, fines, penalties), and because DHS essentially discourages critique, most businesses don’t even check Social Security Numbers – and if the eligibility documents look legit, DHS guidance says “accept them”.”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/12/08/why-donald-trump-and-american-workers-need-andrew-puzder-as-secretary-of-labor/

  20. Don’t count on the RINO infested senate to reject Putzder or any of these pathetic choices. This is the same McConnell led basket of deplorables gave us Loretta Lynch as AG and Mcconnell’s wife for a cabinet post. Nothing has changed.

  21. Has Trump completely gone on vacation like Obama and turned the whole cabinet thing over to the RNC? The same guy who knew exactly what to say at his ralies should definitely know the fast food industry has a toxic image to virtually the entire electorate. The absolute last place to pick a labor secretary from and not why he turned some blue states red in the election. Couldn’t he have found some old blue dog conservative democrat who lost his job during the Obama identity politics takeover of the democratic party and tea party purge of white democrats in the south who would be aching to get back in the game and could serve as a symbolic olive branch to the Democrats for the LABOR POST? Clearly he had no plans in place in case he won, or is afraid the Republicans will team up to Impeach him and better let the RNC have it’s say. His cozying up to the military with some of the picks suggest the latter.

  22. Andy Puzder said in a Saturday statement according to RealClearPolitics as circulated by Trump’s transition team, in a sign he’s genuinely changing on the issue from prior controversial statements:

    My job as a business person is to maximize profits for my company, employees and shareholders. My job as the Secretary of Labor, if confirmed, is to serve U.S. citizen workers – that is my moral and constitutional duty. The public spoke loud and clear in this election, and delivered a mandate to protect American workers. It makes no economic sense to spend trillions on welfare and jobless benefits for out of work Americans while bringing in foreign workers to fill jobs in their place.

    As Secretary of Labor, I will fiercely defend American workers and implement my piece of the ten point plan the President-elect laid out. President-elect Trump’s plan to establish new immigration controls will boost wages and ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first. Hire American and Buy American is our policy, and the one supported by voters in both parties. I will not provide guest worker visas to companies that break the rules, and will support reforms to raise wages for Americans — I know the system from the inside, and will be the best champion American workers have had. With 94 million Americans outside the labor force, and massive unemployment in our inner cities and among minority workers, my job will be to help these workers find jobs. We also have large unemployment in our immigrant communities, and these communities benefit the most from clamping down on guest worker programs that compete against them.

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