The media’s outrage over President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter habits continues to exceed new heights after he recently targeted a union head over the recent Carrier deal.
Last week, Trump announced that he kept his promise by keeping over 1,000 Carrier plant jobs in Indiana from going to Mexico. Chuck Jones, the head of the United Steelworkers union in Indiana, said Trump fudged the numbers and “lied his ass off.”
Trump responded to Jones via Twitter:
Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016
On RT’s News with Ed Schultz on Thursday night, Assistant Editor Siraj Hashmi discussed the fallout of the exchange with Democratic strategist Brad Bauman. And things got a little heated.
“We need to call this what it is,” Bauman began. “This is Twitter terrorism!”
He continued, “Our president-elect is using Twitter in order to incite large amounts of people in order to violate this guy’s right to free speech and right to disagree. And you know what, Ed? Not only is it not presidential, but it’s the stuff of petty dictators.”
While it’s been easy to criticize Trump for his use of Twitter, Hashmi took a different route in agreeing with Trump.
“Chuck Jones,” Hashmi responded. “Who is the head of the United Steelworkers in Indiana — what has he done to bring jobs and keep the jobs that were supposedly going to Mexico in the United States?”
He went on to note that Trump actually kept more jobs in the U.S. than Jones ever could, and Jones decided to play politics instead.
“Are [the United Steelworkers] a political wing of the Democratic party?” Hashmi continued. “Or are they actually fighting for worker’s rights and representing their members? Which they weren’t doing before Donald Trump actually came through and saved the Carrier plant from going to Mexico.”
Schultz began to point out that Trump behaving like a bully on Twitter is unprecedented, prompting Hashmi to quip, “I’m pretty sure George Washington tweeted a lot.”
Watch the whole segment starting at the 5:00 mark below:
