It was one of the most fiery moments of the Democratic National Convention. Last Monday night, Shawn Fain , president of the United Auto Workers union, strode onto the stage at the United Center, took off his blazer and revealed a red t-shirt that read "Trump is a scab." The crowd, filled with party faithful who were also wearing the same T-shirt, roared with approval and began chanting "Trump's a scab.
" Fain, an electrician who worked in an Indiana automotive parts factory, is a throwback to the more bare-knuckled archetype of labor leaders. He exalted Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as a "fighter for the working class" and skewered Trump as a "lapdog for the billionaire class." But while Fain evoked the combative labor bosses of an earlier era, behind that vintage style was a state-of-the-art, tech-savvy campaign machine poised to capitalize on the moment.
Before long, the digital foot soldiers of the Harris-Waltz team, along with the UAW, had plastered the Fain video across social media, garnering millions of views, thousands of the bright red t-shirts had been sold, and the word "scab" was trending online. That bit of choreographed theater reflected the methodical planning and preparation by the Harris-Walz campaign to find every opportunity to amplify labor's message and, just as importantly, to burnish its own pro-union credentials with the labor leaders they are aggressively courting. And for good reason — the union vote could be decisive in 2024 .
Aware that Donald.