On Morning Joe Thursday, host Joe Scarborough ripped Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder for his time as the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns franchises such as Hardee's and Carl's Jr.
Doubting Puzder's chances of Senate confiormation, Scarborough said, "I mean, this guy, wants to be labor secretary has talked how he wants robots to at that time place of workers! Robots wants to take the place of workers! He actually called his own employees, quote, the worst of the worst saying it's hard to get a good work force when you're selecting from the worst of the worst. He said it twice publicly."
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"The question -- how do you ever let this man be Secretary of Labor? How do you ever let somebody that has talked about his own employees, who made him a billionaire, or a multimillionaire, called them the worst of the worst?," Scarborough added.
In 2011, Puzder controversially remarked, "Our turnover was about 300% a year. Which means everybody quit. There were some people that stayed that were lifers at Hardee's."
"But most people were coming and working three months and then going somewhere else. It's not like if you run a fast food company you're hiring graduates of MIT or people that were gonna go work for Microsoft, you know," he added.
Anchor Willie Geist remarked, "I do think at some point Democrats are going to claim a scalp so maybe the one. If [Education Secretary nominee] Betsy DeVos slips through, if that is not it, then maybe Puzder is."
Puzder's confirmation hearing has been delayed due to conflict of interest concerns.
Here is the February 1 exchange:
Morning Joe
02/2/2017
7:13:14 AM-7:14:34 AM [1 min., 20 sec.]
MIKE BRZEZINSKI: Meanwhile, the confirmation hearing for Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder is in limbo. A new hearing day will not be set until key paper work focusing on Puzder's plans to avoid future conflicts of interest are delivered.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is going to be a tough one. I mean, this guy, wants to be labor secretary has talked how he wants robots to at that time place of workers! Robots wants to take the place of workers! He actually called his own employees, quote, the worst of the worst saying it's hard to get a good work force when you're selecting from the worst of the worst. He said it twice publicly. The question -- how do you ever let this man be Secretary of Labor? How do you ever let somebody that has talked about his own employees, who made him a billionaire, or a multimillionaire, called them the worst of the worst?
WILLIE GEIST: Especially when it's so contrast everything Donald Trump has been talking about on the campaign trail the last year and a half when he talking about the jobs are coming back, we are going to rescue the Industrial Midwest. Robots coming in doesn't sound like rescuing jobs for those workers in the Industrial Midwest. I do think at some point Democrats are going to claim a scalp so maybe the one. If Betsy DeVos slips through, if that is not it, then maybe Puzder is.
SCARBOROUGH: Everything he says so publicly so goes against what people in Youngstown, Ohio, and parts of, you know, Scranton, Pennsylvania, that voted for Donald Trump because they believed he supported the working man. This guy is the antithesis of that.
