Thoughts on Trump's Twitter Rants on Boeing & United Steelworkers of America

In a space of 24 hours, President-Elect Donald Trump set his sights on both big business and big labor on Twitter.


First, he targeted Boeing on December 6th:


Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!


Is Trump planning to issue Executive Orders on Twitter?


More importantly, has Boeing done anything illegal? Nope. The only reason Trump gives a damn about Boeing is because their CEO Dennis Muilenburg dared to criticize the President-Elect over his rhetoric on trade policy.


What fascinates me is how conservatives who defended Boeing when Obama's National Labor Relations Board targeted the aerospace company have abandoned it now that Trump has thrown of his tantrums. When Trump says jump, conservatives (with few exceptions) ask, "How high?"


Then after being bored with Boeing, Trump set his sights on the United Steelworkers of America specifically Local 1999 President Chuck Jones in two tweets:


Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!


If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues.


So what is Trump actually saying here? Is Jones doing a terrible job because Carrier workers wages were too high or too low? Then he appears to be complaining about productivity. Is he saying Carrier workers are lazy? Then he talks about union dues. I hate to break it to Trump but those come out of the checks of Carrier employees, not the company.


Is Trump trying to break the union? No. Again, the only reason Trump gives a damn about Chuck Jones is because he accused Trump of lying about the Carrier deal. Nothing more, nothing less.


Now I realize that Boeing and the USWA are easy targets and lot of people like Trump for taking it to these big guys be it big business or big labor.


But if Trump's economic policy is centered on his own mood instead of the mood of the marketplace then we are headed for a whole lot of trouble.