DNC Calls Trump An ‘Anti-Union Scab’ In Labor Day Billboard Ads

Democrats will try to shine a spotlight on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s record on workers’ rights by calling Trump a “scab” as the Labor Day holiday signals the unofficial start of the fall campaign season.

The Democratic National Committee is set to display 19 digital billboards in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Monday as its first paid media buy to kick the season off, a Democratic adviser told HuffPost exclusively.

The billboards, in English and Spanish, will show an unflattering picture of Trump’s face next to the caption “Trump’s an anti-union scab!” and will appear in a mix of high-traffic and other locations in those swing states.

“He has proven over and over again that he does not care about working Americans, and if he regains the Oval Office, he will answer only to his big-dollar friends and donors,” said DNC spokesperson Maddy Mundy.

The buy is not big by presidential campaign standards, but it shows Democrats’ intent to remind voters of Trump’s anti-union record, according to Brad Woodhouse, a senior adviser to the DNC.

“We were really kind of channeling Shawn Fain with that choice,” Woodhouse joked, referring to Fain, who heads the United Auto Workers, wearing a T-shirt that called Trump a “scab” during his speech at the party’s national convention recently. A scab, in union parlance, is someone who doesn’t respect a picket line and instead walks through it.

“And Labor Day’s a good opportunity to lift that up,” Woodhouse said.

Woodhouse estimated the whole ad buy will only be about $25,000 to $30,000.

Trump has come under criticism from union leaders for a variety of reasons. In addition to weakening the power of unions during his presidency, he praised