LOS ANGELES: In his first solo appearance as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz warned cheering union members Tuesday that Donald Trump would wage war on working people and threaten Medicare and Social Security as he kicked off a five-state fundraising swing.
Speaking in a cavernous, dimly lit ballroom to thousands of members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — many dressed in green union T-shirts, and waving Harris-Walz placards — Walz said he and Vice President Kamala Harris want to spread collective bargaining and other worker protections to “every state in the union.”
The 1.4-million-member union has endorsed Harris.
“When unions are strong, America is strong,” Walz, a former school teacher and union member, said.
He warned of a grim future for unions if Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance are elected, describing a nation where bargaining rights, overtime pay and other protections would be scuttled. He said Trump and Vance have “waged war on working people.”
“The only thing those two guys know about working people is how to work to take advantage of them,” Walz said.
However, Trump also has courted union support. When he accepted the Republican nomination, he said that he would rescue the auto industry from what he called “complete obliteration.”
The Democratic campaign chose to kick off Walz’s national swing on the safest of political terrain — heavily Democratic California, home to Vice President Kamala Harris and where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2-1. The last Republican to win a presidential contest in the state was in 1988, George H.W. Bush, and Republican nominees haven’t bothered to seriously contest the state that delivers the largest trove of electoral votes since 2000.
Walz was scheduled to head to a fundraiser in Newport Beach later Tuesday. On Wednesday, he will address fundraisers in Denver and Boston, and then wrap up his trip on Thursday in Newport, Rhode Island, and Southampton, New York.
Walz’s focus on fundraising this week comes after he stormed through a series of battleground states with Harris last week to introduce himself to voters nationally. The two held rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada.
The string of events will showcase Walz in a typical role for a vice presidential nominee, a combination fundraiser and partisan flamethrower.
Introducing himself to voters who probably know little — if anything — about the plainspoken, avuncular governor, Walz echoed remarks he delivered in earlier appearances in Nevada and Arizona following Harris’ announcement that he would join her on the ticket.
Those speeches were built around key themes for Democrats in 2024: support for abortion rights, lifting the middle class and characterizing Trump as “weird” — an attack line Walz has been credited with authoring.
Appearing in front of a union convention, he laced the speech with tributes to working Americans, saying at one point that he’s the first union member to appear on a presidential ticket since Republican Ronald Reagan. But unlike the former Democrat Reagan, he promised, “I won’t lose my way.”
Walz apparently was unaware Trump also was a member of the Screen Actors Guild before resigning in 2021. But during a discussion about government spending, Trump on Monday praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk for firing workers who went on strike, telling him, “You’re the greatest cutter.”
Walz also defended his military record, which has come under criticism from Republicans. “I am damn proud of my service to this country,” he said, and credited Vance for his time in the military.
Though appearing in California, Walz avoided any mention of the state’s long-running problems, which include a homeless crisis, some of the nation’s steepest taxes and lofty housing prices that have been blamed for sending residents to other states looking for more affordable living.
In a statement, California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said residents “are all too familiar with the ramifications of far-left policies championed by Harris.”
Walz launches 5-state fundraising blitz in LA, warns Trump will wage 'war' on working people
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Walz launches 5-state fundraising blitz in LA, warns Trump will wage 'war' on working people
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
