Hillary Clinton on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump’s economic plan and said the billionaire would lead the U.S. back into recession — the latest step in a coordinated assault designed to turn Mr. Trump’s strength into a liability during the presidential campaign.
Speaking in Columbus, Ohio, Mrs. Clinton said her Republican opponent’s claim that he’ll boost the economy, raise wages and create jobs is a lie. Her attacks on virtually every facet of Mr. Trump’s economic platform — from taxes to a vow to repeal Obamacare to plans to tackle America’s mounting debt — painted a bleak, almost apocalyptic picture of what a Trump economy might look like.
“Trump would throw us back into recession,” Mrs. Clinton said during her stop in Ohio, a key battleground state. “Trump would take us back to where we were before the [2008 financial] crisis. He’d rig the economy for Wall Street again. Well, that will not happen on my watch, I can guarantee you.”
The Clinton strategy of taking economic knowledge and business acumen, Mr. Trump’s supposed strengths, and turning them into weaknesses is reminiscent of Democrats’ 2012 playbook against Republican nominee Mitt Romney. A successful businessman, Mr. Romney instead found himself on the defensive on the economy, dogged by charges that he made a fortune while outsourcing jobs and taking advantage of the middle class.
Mr. Trump wasted little time in firing back Tuesday, using a barrage of tweets to take aim at Mrs. Clinton’s own economic policy and her ongoing email scandal.
“How can Hillary run the economy when she can’t even send emails without putting [the] entire nation at risk?” Mr. Trump said, following it up by blasting Mrs. Clinton’s immigration plan.
“Hillary Clinton’s open borders immigration policies will drive down wages for all Americans — and make everyone less safe,” he said.
The back and forth comes as both candidates have taken increasingly harsh shots at each other on both domestic and foreign policy. Mrs. Clinton’s strategy centers on painting Mr. Trump as erratic, irresponsible and unfit to be president, and she’s trying to convince the American people her Republican opponent is dangerous for the U.S. at home and abroad.
“Just like he shouldn’t have his finger on the button, he shouldn’t have his hands on our economy,” she said.
On the economy, Mrs. Clinton took specific aim at the idea of rolling back Wall Street reforms instituted after the 2008 crash, a proposal for which Mr. Trump has expressed some support. She also bashed Mr. Trump for his approach to the national debt, his tax plan, his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his November comment that American wages are too high.
Taken together, she said, those positions would spell disaster for the economy if Mr. Trump finds his way to the Oval Office.
But she saved some of her harshest words for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his federal income tax returns. Mr. Trump has said he’s being audited by the IRS and therefore cannot release the records.
“Every major presidential candidate in the last four decades has shown the American people their taxes. In fact, Donald Trump actually told Mitt Romney to do it, and he said that if he ever ran for president, he would release his returns,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Maybe he isn’t as rich as he claims. Or that he hasn’t given away as much to charity as he brags about. Whatever the reason, Americans deserve to know before you cast your votes in November.”
Mr. Trump didn’t respond to the tax return shot on Twitter, though he did take issue with Mrs. Clinton’s assertion that he’d drive up the national debt if elected.
“I am ’the king of debt,’” Mr. Trump tweeted. “That has been great for me a businessman, but is bad for the country. I made a fortune off of debt, will fix U.S.”
Tuesday’s address focused almost entirely on Mr. Trump. Mrs. Clinton said she’ll detail her own economic proposals during a Wednesday speech in North Carolina.
Ahead of the speech, the Republican National Committee circulated statements made by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who on Tuesday said the state of the U.S. economy is “troubling” and “uneven.”
“Yellen’s comments are another reminder of how reckless it is to stay the course,” RNC spokesman Michael Short said in a statement, highlighting the Republican strategy of tying Mrs. Clinton to President Obama’s economic record.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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