Clinton campaign blasts "egomaniac" Trump for Brexit response
NEW YORK Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign blasted Donald Trump's response to the vote in the United Kingdom on Thursday to break away from the European Union as evidence that he is selfish, and unfit for the Oval Office.
"Hillary Clinton has made clear that the first priority has to be to make sure that working families here in America aren't hurt by this vote and its aftermath," Jake Sullivan, Clinton's senior policy adviser, told reporters on a conference call on Friday afternoon. "Donald Trump actively rooted for this outcome and he's rooting for the economic turmoil in its wake."
Sullivan said that Trump's reaction to the so-called "Brexit" vote followed an "emerging Donald Trump playbook" for crises, starting with "pathological self-congratulations." Sullivan charged that Trump "consults only with himself," ignores facts and "thinks about and then talks about what's good for himself."
"Then, he always says something that shows he doesn't have a clue what it actually means to be commander-in-chief," Sullivan said.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is on a two-day trip overseas to celebrate the reopening of his newest golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland. Earlier Friday, at a press conference, Trump praised the vote in the United Kingdom and compared the result to his political success back at home.
"I think that's what's happening in the United States," said Trump, sporting a white "Make America Great Again" hat. "It's not staying together. It's a really positive force taking place. They want to take their country back. The people want their country back. We don't want to lose our jobs. We don't want to lose our borders."
He predicted that his golf business might benefit from the weakening of the British pound.
"If the pound goes down they're going to do more business," he said. "When the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly."
While bashing Trump as a "egomaniac," Clinton's advisors also downplayed any parallel between the populist sentiment behind the "leave" votes in the United Kingdom and angry, disenchanted voters that have fueled Trump's rise, and could potentially block Clinton's path to the White House.
"It is really important to recognize that a vote on whether the U.K. stays in or leaves the European Union is profoundly different from a vote for who should be president and commander in chief of the United States," Sullivan said. "This American election is about what's happening here in America, and not what's happening in Yorkshire or in Cardiff."
Sullivan argued that Clinton, having criss-crossed the country over the past year, understands the concerns of American voters.
"She has heard and felt the sense of frustration, the sense that people are working harder but not getting ahead, the sense that our economy is not working for everyone," he said, "and she's made clear that she intends to make the kinds of bold investments and bold policy reforms that are necessary to make our economy work for everyone and not just those at the top."
Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director, added that Clinton's victories in the primary show that voters want "solutions," not "anger."
"We think that solutions are what voters are going to be looking for in the general election, too," she said.