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Friday, March 29, 2024

Hillary Clinton attacks Donald Trump’s economic agenda

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Hillary Clinton has sought to undercut Donald Trump’s appeal to working-class voters, claiming her Republican rival is untrustworthy on economic issues and pushes policies that would only benefit the super-wealthy – himself included.

The Democratic presidential nominee, who frequently boasts about her numerous policy plans, did not offer any new ideas to improve the country’s economy in her afternoon address.

Instead, she contrasted a more optimistic view of the country’s economy with what she called “outlandish Trumpian ideas” that have been rejected by both parties.

“Based on what we know from the Trump campaign, he wants America to work for him and his friends, at the expense of everyone else,” she said at a manufacturing company in Michigan.

Mrs Clinton tried to seize the opportunity to win back some of the blue collar voters who have supported her rival, making the case that she offers a steadier roadmap for economic growth and prosperity.

“I can provide serious, steady leadership that can find common ground and build on it based on hard but respectful bargaining,” she said.

“I just don’t think insults and bullying is how we’re going to get things done.”

She also reiterated her strong opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, leaving herself little room for backtracking should she win the White House if it is taken up by the lame-duck Congress later this year.

“I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election, and I’ll oppose it as president,” she said, while also noting that the US should not cut itself off from the rest of the world.

Mrs Clinton once called the TPP the “gold standard” of trade deals when she served as Barack Obama’s secretary of state but announced her opposition to the deal last year, saying it did not meet her standard for creating jobs, raising wages and protecting national security.

Eric Hernandez, 45, a union crane operator from Davison, Michigan, said he had been on the fence about Mrs Clinton, but the speech impressed him.

“The down-to-earth talk she used today I really liked,” he said. “If she implemented all the things she said, I’d be ecstatic.”

Mrs Clinton is also planning to release her 2015 tax returns in the coming days, as she seeks to keep the pressure on Mr Trump, who has not provided his.

Mr Trump has said he will not release them until an Internal Revenue Service audit is complete.

A source close to Mrs Clinton said she would soon release the return, supplementing the decades of returns she and her husband have already made public.

Her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, and his wife will also release the past 10 years of their returns.

Her appearance follows Mr Trump’s own speech on the economy, which he also delivered in Michigan on Monday.

However, his remarks were quickly eclipsed by the latest in a series of controversial statements which Mr Trump has spent much of the past two weeks trying to clarify.

Just hours before Mrs Clinton’s address, Mr Trump unleashed another round of attacks on Mr Obama – calling him the “founder” of Islamic State – and Mrs Clinton, its “co-founder”.

Mr Trump said this week he wants to cut taxes for businesses and workers, and go with a three-bracket income tax system that is close to what House Republicans have recommended.

With few exceptions, Mr Trump has provided more of a philosophical basis for an economic plan than specifics, although he did call for greater child care deductions for families.

At an appearance in Miami Beach, Florida, hours before Mrs Clinton’s speech, he said his rival “wants to tax and regulate our economy to death”.

“If you were a foreign power looking to weaken America, you couldn’t ask for anything better than Hillary Clinton as your president,” he said, addressing a group of home builders.

Both candidates chose tightly contested Michigan – specifically, the Detroit area – to make their updated economic pitches.

The former manufacturing powerhouse has been hard hit by the decline of the automobile industry and the real estate market.

Mr Trump has struggled to keep the focus on his economic proposal week after fresh controversy with his comments about the Second Amendment.

At a rally on Tuesday, Mr Trump falsely said his Democratic rival wanted to revoke the right to gun ownership.

He then said there was no way people would be able to stop a President Clinton from stacking the Supreme Court with anti-gun justices, before adding: “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is – I don’t know.”

Democrats said such comments were further evidence that Mr Trump was undisciplined and unprepared for the presidency.

Mr Trump insisted he was never advocating violence against Mrs Clinton.

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