Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) offered Sen. J.D. Vance a fist bump when he looked for a handshake — and her two aides simply left Vance hanging and then swiftly walked away — as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee and Ohio Senator tried to curry favor with the United Auto Workers union on Labor Day.
The handshake-fistbump disconnect can happen to anyone, of course — little moments tend to look more significant than they are in tiny video captures.
But Kaptur also made sure to torch Vance for his outsider status (and opportunism?) more acutely. “First time here?” the Congreswoman asked Vance, already knowing the answer.
The VP-hopeful, wearing an Ohio State University sweatshirt, had to admit: “First time here, yeah.”
“First time here?”
Vance: “First time here. Yeah.”
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 2, 2024
“Well, thank you for coming,” replied Kaptur, a longtime union supporter who was the Grand Marshall of the Toledo Labor Day Parade — wielding her politeness as a magnifying glass to enlarge Vance’s Johnny Come Lately status when it comes to union support.
Honored to serve as Grand Marshall of the Toledo #LaborDay Parade! As someone who comes from a union family, know that I will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the labor movement. Together we will always fight for respect, dignity, and safe working conditions on the job. #1u pic.twitter.com/qpAc91iTuI
— Rep. Marcy Kaptur (@RepMarcyKaptur) September 2, 2024
Kaptur isn’t the only one characterizing Vance’s overtures to labor as more posture than action. Just after Donald Trump chose Vance as his running mate, AFL-CIO president Liz Schulyer called the Trump-Vance ticket “a corporate CEO’s dream and a worker’s nightmare.”
The lack of warm receptions — and even boos — for Vance in labor environs like his speech to the Firefighters Union hasn’t discouraged him. As he says below, amidst the boos, “I’ll make my pitch here.”
Sen. @JDVance booed at Firefighter Conference: “Sounds like we got some fans and some haters. That’s okay.” pic.twitter.com/ZnanSg38da
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 29, 2024