Hillary: We Cannot Let Trump ‘Bankrupt America Like We Are One Of His Failed Casinos’

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Tuesday in Columbus, OH, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton criticized presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s history as a businessman, saying, “We cannot let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos.”

Partial transcript as follows:

Here is what he said about one of those bankruptcies. ‘I figured it was the banks’ problem, not mine. What the hell did I care?’  He also said, ‘I play with bankruptcies.’  Everything is a game. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He put his name on buildings, his favorite thing to do. He convinced other people that his properties were a great investment so they would go in with him. But, he arranged it so he got paid no matter how his company performed. So when his casinos and hotels went bankrupt because of how badly he mismanaged them, he still walked away with millions while everybody else paid the price. Today, his properties are sold and shuttered and fallen apart.

So are a lot of people’s lives. Here is what he said about that—’Atlantic city was a good cash cow for me for a long time.’  Remember that when you see him talking on TV about how we’ll win big if we elect him as president. He’s doing the exact same thing that he’s been doing for years, this is his one move. He makes over the top promises that if people stick with him and trust him and listen to him, put their faith in him—he will deliver for them. He will make them wildly successful, and everything falls apart and people get hurt. Those promises you are hearing from him and his campaign rallies, they are the same promises he made to his customers at Trump University. And now they’re suing him for fraud.

The same people he’s trying to get to vote for him are people he’s been exploiting for years. Because it is not just other investors or rich people that he took advantage of. It was working people. He’s been involved in more than 3500 lawsuits in the last 30 years. And, a large number were filed by ordinary Americans and small businesses that did work for Trump and never got paid. Painters, waiters, plumbers, people who needed the money and didn’t get it. Not because he could not pay them but because he could stiff them. Sometimes he offers them 30 cents on the dollar for projects they already completed. Hundreds of leans have been filed against him by contractors going back in decades.

They all tell a similar story. ‘I worked for him. I did my job. He would not pay me what he owed me.’ My late father was a small businessman. If his customers had done what Trump did, my dad would never had made it. So I take this personally. He says he’s a businessman and this is what businessmen do. Well, CNN pointed out that no major company has filed chapter 11 more often in the last 30 years than Trump’s casinos. So no, this is not normal behavior. There are great business people here in Ohio, in America, really hard working men and women who care about their workers and the people they do business with. They want to build something that lasts.

They’re decent and honest and patriots and some may make a fine president and they would never dream about acting the way Donald Trump does. In America, we don’t begrudge people being successful. We know they should not do it by destroying other people’s dreams. If I were not running against him for president, I would be saying exactly the same thing. We can not put a person like this with all his empty promises in a position of power over our lives. We cannot let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos.

We cannot let him roll the dice with our children’s futures. Leading an economy as large and complex as ours creating growth that is strong, fair, and lasting is about as hard of a job as there is. It takes patience and clear thinking. A willingness to work across party lines to level with the American people, and it takes really caring about whether working families will be better off because of what we do.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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