Clinton slams Trump's business background in economy speech
COLUMBUS -- Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Donald Trump's economic policies would force a "Trump recession" and, instead of a plan to create more jobs, Trump has offered the American people only a "string of empty promises."
"But then," Clinton thought out loud, "maybe we shouldn't expect better from someone whose most famous words are 'you're fired.'"
Clinton, speaking to a crowd seated in an automotive bay at a school in Columbus, delivered a brutal assessment of Trump's approach to the American economy. Her remarks were delivered in a similar style to her speech on national security in San Diego a few weeks ago, in which she cast Trump as "temperamentally unfit" to sit in the Oval Office.
"Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button," she said, "he shouldn't have his hands on our economy."
Clinton leaned on a report co-authored by Moody's economist Mark Zandi, released this week, which found that a Trump presidency could lead to a long recession. A person close to the Trump campaign told the Wall Street Journal that the analysis "rested on flawed assumptions about policies that haven't been fully fleshed out by the campaign."
"We would lose 3 and a half million jobs, incomes would stagnate, debt would explode and stock prices would plummet," she said. And Clinton questioned whether, in an economic crisis, Trump would be able to right the ship.
"Imagine Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office the next time America faces a crisis," she said. "Imagine him being in charge when your jobs and savings are at stake. Is this who you want leading us in an emergency? Someone thin-skinned and quick to anger, who'd likely be on Twitter attacking reporters or bringing the whole regulatory system down on his critics, when he should be focused on fixing what's wrong?"
Clinton also slammed Trump for his plan to roll back Wall Street reforms put in place under President Barack Obama.
"He said he wants to wipe out the tough rules," Clinton said. "He said they created, quote, 'a very bad situation.' Well, he's got it backwards. The very bad situation was millions of families seeing their homes and savings disappear."
She praised Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is rumored to be on Clinton's list of potential running mates, for helping create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and promised to defend it.
"He'd rig the economy for Wall Street again," Clinton said of Trump. "Well, that will not happen on my watch. I would veto any effort to weaken those reforms."
Mocking the nickname he has given himself, "the king of debt," Clinton portrayed the billionaire turned presidential candidate as a selfish businessman who only cares about enriching himself, even at the expense of others.
"Today, his properties are sold, shuttered or falling apart and so are a lot of people's lives," she said, referencing Trump's now-closed casinos in Atlantic City. "Here's what he says about that: 'Atlantic City was a very good cash cow for me for a long time.' Remember that, next time you see him talking on TV about how we'll all win big if only we elect him president."
Earlier on Tuesday, Clinton's campaign unveiled a new website -- www.artofthesteal.biz -- that calls Trump a "fundamentally bad businessman" and a web video that highlights his failed business ventures.
"He's written a lot of books about business," she said in Columbus. "They all seem to end at Chapter 11."
She also suggested that Trump himself is not as wealthy as he has led the American people to believe.
"Every major presidential candidate in the last four decades has shown the American people their taxes," she said. "In fact, Donald actually told Mitt Romney to do it...and now Donald's refusing to do so. You have to ask yourself, what's he afraid of?"
Clinton is expected to continue to contrast her views and vision for the economy with Trump's on Wednesday, when she campaigns in Raleigh. She said Tuesday that she will "set out ambitious new goals that will help us build a stronger, fairer economy."
Trump, for his part, is planning to make a speech of his own on Wednesday morning in New York City.
"I will be making a big speech tomorrow to discuss the failed policies and bad judgment of Crooked Hillary Clinton," he wrote on Twitter.