Who Thought This Kind of Hypocrisy Was Possible?
There’s no question that President Donald Trump is a serial liar, but even we had held out for him possibly tip-towing around areas that make him look especially bad. But just like his daughter Ivanka proved when she posted to Instagram a video of her daughter singing in Mandarin to the President of China during his visit to Mar-a-Lago, the same day the Chinese government awarded her company three valuable trademarks, Donald Trump has displayed not a single iota of proof he even understands basic concepts of hypocrisy or conflict of interest.
During a staged campaign-like rally at the Snap-on Tools manufacturing plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin Tuesday afternoon, President Donald Trump unveiled his executive order mandating the federal government buy American products and making it harder for technology companies to hire non-American workers.
It’s Trump’s “buy American, hire American” campaign promise supporters frequently heard, but as has been often reported, Donald Trump breaks that promise frequently.
“Right now H-1B visas are awarded in a totally random lottery and that’s wrong. Instead, they should be given to most skilled and highest paid applicants and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans,” Trump told workers, executives, and reporters in Wisconsin.Â
H-1B visas are given to temporary foreign workers sponsored by technology companies. IBM, Accenture, and Infosys are among the top US employers using H-1B visas.
But there are other, similar temporary worker visas that President Trump didn’t mention, and isn’t trying to curtail.
The H-2 visa program is for temporary foreign workers with less specialized skills. Say, people working in the hospitality industry, like, cooks, housekeepers, and servers.
Last summer Buzzfeed reported “Trump is bringing jobs to Florida, as he looks to hire 78 servers, housekeepers, and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and the nearby Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter.”
And he wasn’t looking to hire locals, even though there are well over 1000 people registered with a career services agency in the area looking for those jobs.
Buzzfeed noted that “instead of making sure those jobs go to Americans, he is seeking to import foreign workers for the positions, which pay $10.17 an hour for housekeepers, $11.13 an hour for servers, and $12.74 for cooks. He filed applications this month claiming he couldn’t find enough Americans to do that work, and is seeking temporary visas to bring in 65 workers at Mar-a-Lago along with another seven waiters and six cooks at the golf club.”
A total of 78 foreign workers that Trump could pay less than the market rate.
Buzzfeed in December reported that “companies owned by Trump or bearing his name have sought permission from the Department of Labor to hire at least 263 foreign guest workers since he launched his presidential campaign. Many work as servers and house cleaners at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.”
Almost immediately upon being elected president the annual membership fee at Mar-a-Lago was doubled to $200,000. Salaries for workers were not commensurately raised.
The Palm Beach Post in December reported Trump will be hiring foreign workers for Mar-a-Lago, many at or below the same rate those jobs were paid last year, despite wage growth and increased membership fees. “The U.S. Department of Labor gave Trump permission to hire 19 cooks at $12.74 an hour, down from $13.01 an hour this past year,” the Post noted as one example.
As far as Trump’s “buy American” claim, well, it’s common knowledge that for years Trump has had his products made in China and across the globe – in at least 12 countries. In America, not so much.
Like father, like daughter:
Jake Tapper, as Raw Story pointed out, went berserk over Trump’s incredible hypocrisy:
Tapper says Trump has hired 1300 foreign workers over the years.
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Top video and screenshot via The New York Times