This story has been edited to provide more context about Musk firing workers at multiple companies, and to include additional comments from Trump made on Thursday, after Vance's visit to Michigan.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance defended Donald Trump’s statements about firing striking workers at an event today in Kent County.
Trump made the comments in a live conversation online with Elon Musk on Monday.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump said to Musk during their conversation on X, “You walk in and you just say… ‘You wanna quit? Then go on strike.’ I won’t mention the name of the company, .but they go on strike and you say ‘That’s OK you’re all gone.’”
Vance was visiting Byron Center, a Grand Rapids suburb when a reporter asked him about the reaction to the comments from union leaders.
Vance stood behind Trump’s comments.
“Donald Trump was not talking about firing Michigan auto workers, he was talking about firing the employees of Twitter who used their power to censor American citizens,” Vance said. “Those people ought to be fired.”
Twitter, the former name of X, permanently banned Donald Trump from its platform after the violent attacks on the U.S. capitol building on January 6, 2021. Twitter suspended Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
The company also banned other right wing users for promoting hate speech on the site. Those moves were before Elon Musk bought Twitter and rebranded the company “X.” Trump’s account has been restored on the site.
It remains unclear exactly which incident Trump may have been referring to in his conversation with Musk, despite Vance's assertion that Trump was talking about Twitter. Musk has carried out layoffs at multiple companies he's owned, including Twitter, where he reportedly laid off 80% of staff.
Musk also fired workers at a New York plant, after the workers announced their support for a union. Tesla said the firings were planned before that announcement. The National Labor Relations board threw out a complaint from the workers that claimed the firings were retaliation for the union move.
On Thursday, Trump was asked about his comments at a press conference at his golf club in New Jersey. Trump cited both Tesla and Twitter in defending the comments, saying Musk had a right to fire workers so that he had an "efficient" company.
Despite both Vance and Trump defending the comments, union leaders have spoken out against them.
On Tuesday, the United Auto Workers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board saying Trump’s comments were an attempt to threaten and intimidate workers.
Sean O’Brien, the head of the Teamsters union, called Trump’s comments “economic terrorism” in a statement to Politico.
“Well look, I like the Teamsters president, I think he’s a good guy, but I think he’s wrong about this,” Vance said in Byron Center.
