United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks onstage at the DNC wearing a red t-shirt reading "Trump is a scab. Vote Harris"
(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

‘Trump is a scab’ is the best thing that happened at the DNC night 1

One of the funniest moments out of the first night at the Democratic National Convention was when United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain took the stage. Throughout the audience, people wearing shirts that read “Trump is a scab. Vote Harris” popped up and Fain had one on too!

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The term “scab” refers to someone who interferes with union work, such as by crossing a picket line to take up the job of a striking union worker. Trump has repeatedly proven himself to be anti-union, appointing Supreme Court nominees who helped to crack down on rules for public sector unions. One point that came up at the DNC was that Trump failed to keep a GM plant open despite his own promises.

Unions like the UAW are also mad at Trump over the recent interview he did with Elon Musk on X. The two were talking about Musk taking over Twitter and Trump made comments about the workers who were trying to push back at Musk’s takeover. “You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike. That’s okay, you’re all gone. You’re all gone,” Trump said in the interview.

At the time, the UAW pushed back at the statement and said that what Trump was saying violates federal labor laws. It now has resulted in the UAW backing Kamala Harris in the presidential race. On the flip of that, the Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was not present that first night at the DNC but did speak at the Republican National Convention.

The best part of the night came when Fain quoted Nelly (saying that it was getting hot in there) and took off his jacket to reveal a shirt that said “Trump is a scab. Vote Harris.” It resulted in a chant from the audience as well.

Fain made it clear that Democrats understand the UAW

It is beyond frustrating to see working class people time and time again think that the Republican party cares about them. People like Donald Trump pretend they do in order to secure a vote but never really put in the effort to help Americans keep their jobs. Again, one of the reasons the UAW is so mad at Trump is because he literally took jobs away that he promised to keep!

Fain said, “For the UAW and for working people everywhere it comes down one question: what side are you on? On one side we have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who have stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class. On the other side, we have Trump and Vance, two lap dogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves.”

There are still quite a few nights at the DNC to go but Monday really kicked things into high gear. Hearing “Trump is a scab” and “Lock him up” chanted in the same night was kind of iconic of the DNC.


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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.