This is an important discussion, so I've decided to not put it behind the paywall and make it all-access.
Regular readers of my Morning Briefing are well aware of my displeasure with the president-elect's nomination of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) to be the next Secretary of Labor.
Those of us who have been Donald Trump fans for a while know that his wildcard, "think outside the box" moments are part of the deal. This pick is a little too much like thinking inside of the Democratic National Committee box, however. Chavez-DeRemer is a walking red flag who never even should have made it onto a short list for consideration, let alone gotten the nomination. I outlined my issues with her in this column. Catherine wrote about her as well.
It's always great to have Kira on the podcast, but the reason I wanted to talk to her about this topic is that Chavez-DeRemer is a supporter of the insidious PRO Act, which would be an unmitigated disaster for freelance independent contractors like us. The PRO Act has its roots in California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), so Kira has been dealing with this nonsense for several years now.
Before you start listening, here's some more background explaining why this was a monumentally stupid choice by Trump and his transition team. This is from The Wall Street Journal:
‘President Trump and I are going to fight for the truckers,” JD Vance declared at a Pennsylvania campaign rally this summer. Well, not so much. By tapping Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as his Labor secretary, Mr. Trump has sold out the truckers to a Teamsters boss who didn’t endorse him for President.
The American Trucking Associations issued a statement Monday pointing out that Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s “anti-trucking policies undermine our essential workforce, threaten the right of independent truckers to choose their own career path, and impede the efficiency of the supply chain.”
The group is referring to Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the anti-worker Pro Act, which seeks to reclassify tens of millions of independent contractors as employees who have less flexibility and autonomy.
Ok, we have our first real fight of populists vs. establishment! I am officially supporting President Trump's pick of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) for Labor Secretary. All Murdoch media outlets, Chamber of Commerce, Never Trumpers and establishment Republicans are against her.
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) November 25, 2024
I think you're all well aware that I am neither an establishment Republican nor a Never Trumper.
You're starting to get the idea. Again, it is always fun having Kira on the show, even when we have to be serious for an entire episode. We had planned on keeping this to around 25-30 minutes, but we had so much to say that we went for 45.
It's worth it. I should note that, even when Kira and I are dealing with something serious like this, we don't go all "gloom and doom" about it.
Enjoy!
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