President Donald Trump told a steel worker at his tariff-signing event that the man’s father is ‘looking down’ and ‘he’s proud of you.’
There was only one problem, the man’s father is not dead.
‘Then he’s even more proud of you,’ Trump said to laughter after Scott Sarge, president of United Steelworkers Union 2227, corrected him. ‘Then he’s even more proud,’ the president repeated.
President Donald Trump told a steel worker at his tariffs signing event that the man’s father is ‘looking down’ and ‘he’s proud of you.’ Scott Sarge, president of United Steelworkers Union 2227, had to explain that his father, Herman, is not dead
Sarge said in brief remarks in support of the president’s newly announced tariffs that his father lost his job in the ’80s due to dumping.
‘What that does to a man with six kids is devastating, so I never forgot that, looking into his eyes, in my household, what that does to a family,’ he said. ‘You hear about it, but when you’re actually involved and it impacts you, it’ll never leave you.’
The union boss inadvertently suggested that his dad had passed away.
‘For Herman Sarge, your story didn’t end. And for all the people that I represent at my union, I never want to see it again,’ he said. ‘And for these workers and these folks, I appreciate the opportunity, I’m very humbled by this.’
Taking the mic back, Trump asked him to confirm that Herman is his father.
‘Well, your father Herman is looking down. He’s proud of you right now,’ the president said.
Sarge set off laughter in the room of blue collar workers and Cabinet officials when shot back, ‘Oh he’s still alive.’
Not missing a beat, Trump moved on to the next gentleman, a buff, t-shirt wearing steel worker in blue jeans, who the president approached with his arm and invited him to wrestle.
The man, Ron Davis, a steel worker, said the plant he works at provided the majority of the armor for Humvees, but its workers will have dwindled to down from 200 to 71 by September. He said he hopes Trump’s protectionist measure will save other manufacturing plants from enduring the same fate.
‘Anybody else?’ Trump asked when Davis had finished. ‘You’re just going to accept great jobs, right? You’re going to be very happy. You’re going to see things changing very rapidly.’
The president said, ‘We looked forward to having lots of mills opening up, lots of plants opening up, both steel and aluminum and other things. We’ll be doing other things, very positive things but you are great people.
‘Would you like to take a picture in the Oval Office?’ he suddenly asked. ‘I assume you’ve all been many times into the Oval Office, come on let’s go and do that.’
Trump had to be reminded by his Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, that he needed to sign two proclamations enforcing his actions before he exited.
‘Your signing these?’ he asked him over a hot mic.
Trump waved him off, and said, ‘Yes, I’m gonna do.’
‘We’ll go into the Oval Office, we’re gonna sign this up, we’ll go into the Oval Office, we’ll have a picture, OK?’ he told the workers as he moved toward the table that bore the documents.