The leader of a local steelworkers union in West Mifflin, Pa., said Friday he laughed it off when President Trump said his still-living father was looking down on him from heaven.
“You’ve got to understand that we’ve got the steelworker mentality of, we like humor, and we laughed about it,” said Scott Sauritch, who was joined by his father on CNN. “You don’t take something like that personal.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to roll with the moment,” he added. “It is what it is.”
“We laughed about it”: Steelworker whose father Trump mistakenly said was dead says he and his family found the incident funny https://t.co/O0ubRuJjuO pic.twitter.com/FBqVkyO17x
— New Day (@NewDay) March 9, 2018
Sauritch and other steelworkers spoke at the White House Thursday as Trump unveiled his plan to protect the industry by imposing tariffs. Sauritch spoke about his father’s struggles in the 1980s when he lost his job due to steel imports, which prompted Trump to think his father had passed away.
[Trump signs tariffs to end ‘assault’ on American workers]
“Your father, Herman, he’s looking down, and he’s very proud of you right now,” Trump told Sauritch after he spoke.
“Oh, he’s still alive,” Sauritch replied, and was met with laughter.
“Then he’s even more proud of you,” Trump responded.
“Maybe the way I told the story … he thought he was dead, you know?” Sauritch said on CNN. “I was just emphasizing the hard times he went through.”
