Betraying Middle America in trade fight

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, for today’s tribunes of the working class, this is not really about trade, or jobs, or wages, but politics — indeed, special-interest politics of a pretty raw variety.

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The fast track fight represents something between a do-or-die test of the unions’ residual clout and a golden opportunity for them to unify by exploiting a perennial hot-button issue. The prize is nothing less than power over the post-Obama Democratic Party.

The AFL-CIO has already achieved a lot in that regard, by forcing so many House Democrats to choose labor over a president of their own party. Labor has forced presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to equivocate on a trade plan she advocated as secretary of state; the unions rolled House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), too, which is no mean feat. It must have been a heady moment for AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka when Pelosi’s caucus received him almost as Obama’s equal last week.

The results for the country are less salutary.

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