Jay Weber Show transcript 6-17-25
Some democrats who listen are asking me: what do you think it means that Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders have resigned from their posts at the democrat national committee?
For those who don’t know, these are two major labor leaders. In fact, when it comes to government workers-these are probably the two ‘most major’ labor leaders: Randi Weingarten is the horrible woman who has led the American federation of teachers- the second largest national teachers’ union in the nation...
And Lee Saunders is the head of afscme: the American federation of state county and municipal employees. This is the union that represents most government workers-across the nation. It is literally a union created to represent government workers at all levels.
And so-to see afscme and the aft break ties in this more formal way with the democrat national committee and its leadership is clearly a ‘big deal’.
But to answer the listener’s question: I don’t know ‘quite’ what to make of it, because we aren’t being given clear reasons for Saunders and Weingarten’s departure from the DNC.
And yes, I know that all sorts of political puritans are saying it’s unseemly that two of the nation’s major labor leaders were officially members of the national committee of ‘one political party’...but who are we kidding? Labor leaders and democrat party big wigs have been attached at the hip since both entities were invented over 100 years ago. Labor unions and the democrat party are intertwined....and have been for more than a century.
It's not surprising to anyone-nor was it any secret- that Weingarten and Saunders held ‘power positions’ within the DNC and worked to heavily influence it’s agenda and platform.
But- until we know ‘why’ they left. What their specific beefs are with the new DNC chairman Ken Martin and the party’s leadership- we can’t know how serious this is- or what it means.
Maybe it’s just a personality conflict: after all, I know Weingarten and Saunders both wanted our own democrat state chairmen-Ben Wickler- to get the top DNC job. They endorsed and pushed for him, only to have the job go to Ken Martin.
So, is this a personality conflict? Or a disagreement on strategies?
That still isn’t clear.
Are Weingarten and Saunders ever going to tell their rank-and-file members? Who total about three million workers? Why don’t they like Martin and are breaking away from the democrat party?
Or are they-and the country-left to guess?
I’m thinking this might be a way to increase pressure on Ken Martin to resign- just about three months after taking the job- after he admitted to other DNC officials in a blubbering zoom call a week ago...that he’s not certain he can do this job, anymore.
This blubbering zoom call came after the very punchable David Hogg lit the tent on fire by announcing his PAC is going to primary certain congressional democrats around the country to purify the party: make it more socialist progressive lefty.
That move came right after hogg was elected vice chairman of the DNC at their last big family gathering. Everyone sang kumbaya as martin and hogg were elevated to leadership.
Then hogg pulled his stunt and touched off an intra-party fury that still simmers to this day. Last week, DNC members followed through on their bogus excuse.... claiming Hogg hadn’t been elected in a valid election...and shoved him out of DNC leadership.
That had hogg saying he wouldn’t even attempt to run again, for leadership, and instead will move forward with his purification project as an outsider.
Fast forward to the blubbery call by ken martin...and two important labor leaders breaking ties with the DNC.
Certainly...none of these are good.
But what does it really ‘mean’ for the state of the party?
I don’t know-and I don’t think anyone does until Weingarten and Saunders explain why they left, and they are upset.
My best guess is that they want it to touch off a pressure campaign for ‘crocodile tears martin’ to resign...so they can double-back and offer the job to Ben Wickler.
But that’s just a guess.
These two can’t really be serious about having their unions cut ties with the DNC long term.Where else are they going to go? And where will they derive their power?
It’s not like they’re going to rush over to the Trump/GOP side...or form an alliance with the green party. And it might sound like a lot-but it’s not: between their two unions, they only represent about four million voters in a country of 170-million or so. Yes, their unions have traditionally provided the armies for the grassroots door knocking and phone banks...but today’s modern day dem party has more professionally paid activists doing that now, than union members.
This looks like cheap ‘intra-party’ stunting.
It was only a few months ago that both Saunders and Weingarten had primetime speaking spots at the DNC convention in which they helped thrust kamala onto the country.
There has been no larger political ‘change of heart’ here, clearly. There wasn’t time for that.
And as for Weingarten’s complaint: I don’t know why the party isn’t reaching out to more groups to grow the tent-
Who does she suggest they reach out to?
The biggest problem the dems have with growing the tent is- thy have policies that 80 percent of the country rejects. And I’m not exaggerating.
This is the party that is currently embracing illegal aliens. Embracing criminal chaos over safe streets. Demonizing law enforcement.
This is the party that just spent the weekend demonizing the military and protesting ‘straw kings’....in invented protests that strike most Americans as loony.
It’s hard to ‘reach out’ to new voters-when your current policies and grass roots make your party members look like extremists and lunatics.
Genuinely.
One of the biggest problems for today’s party leaders- from Schumer and Jefferies on down- is that they don’t understand how most Americans are perceiving their grassroots.
This would be like Europeans in the 19th century visiting Africa or new guinea...and seeing the natives dancing naked around fires and chanting...wondering...what in the heck are we watching, here?
It looks bizarre and scary. There’s a lot of war paint and gord rattling. This makes me uncomfortable. What am I watching, here?
This is how this ice and antifa protests look to 80 percent of Americans: it’s pimply, ugly, social misfit 20-somethings with purple and pink hair...dressed in black and body armor...tossing bricks and starting fires and looting stores. What am I watching, here? And why would I want to be a part of it?
How does Randi Weingarten think the party should be reaching out to? Normal people? But she doesn’t think she can say it?
It’d be interesting if that’s the case-given how she, herself, played an important part in moving today’s democrat party to the extremes- and with the menacing grassroots- that we are now seeing.
Do she and Saunders want the democrat party leaders to ‘double’ and ‘triple’ down on the Bernie Sanders style socialism and the ‘bullying’ anti-Americanism that we’ve seen out of this party over the last decade?
Or are they smart enough to want martin and the party to moderate-and stop looking like the lunatic fringe?
Without knowing that- we can’t know what to ‘make of’ this unionista split with today’s DNC leaders.
It’s probably just a stunt to pressure ken martin to quit so they can install Ben Wickler...but...this is a party that’s so lost, currently, it’s hard to tell.
Folks- when no one inside-or outside- of the party could really explain what this past weekend’s protests were about- the democrats have a problem.
They called up -and displayed- the full force of the leftist professional protester class.
Okay. And?
They hate Donald Trump and republicans. That much has been clear for ten years.
And?
No policies were expressed. It wasn’t over a specific or clear issue. Heck, they didn’t even fundraise it.
So-what were this weekend’s protests about?
We don’t want a king.
Okay.George Washington’s troops will be happy to hear you are ‘with them in spirit’ about 250 years too late.
And?
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here > The Democrats infighting intensifies