WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 31: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump meets with leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Teamsters union general president Sean O’Brien is set to speak at the Republican National Convention next week—the culmination of several months of courting former president Donald Trump despite his anti-labor record.

With 1.3 million members, the Teamsters are one of largest and most powerful unions in the United States—and its leaders have not yet issued an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. Representatives have emphasized that O’Brien’s speech at the RNC does not amount to one and that O’Brien also requested to speak at the Democratic National Convention in August. Spokesperson Kara Deniz told Mother Jones that the DNC has not responded to their request.

Still, O’Brien’s planned visit to the RNC sets the Teamsters apart from other influential labor unions, who have largely rallied behind President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. Biden, who claimed the title of “the most pro-union president in American history,” has already been endorsed by several other major unions, including the AFL-CIO, NEA, and UAW.

O’Brien’s speech at the RNC “only normalizes and makes the most anti-union party and President I’ve seen in my lifetime seem palatable.”

Experts say it’s unlikely that the Teamsters’ endorsement—which requires a poll of the general executive board—will go to Trump. Nevertheless, O’Brien’s critics from within the union argue that his appearance at the RNC will set a dangerous precedent at a potential turning point for American labor. Teamsters vice president at-large John Palmer has repeatedly publicly rebuked O’Brien’s involvement with Trump. In a recent op-ed in New Politics, he wrote that........

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