Tim Kaine campaigned today in Charlotte, North Carolina where he spoke with supporters at Davidson College. Kaine’s speech focused largely on the vision of America presented by Hillary Clinton and himself. He outlined a number of the platform points presented by Clinton including her plan to make college more affordable. Kaine also went after Republican Donald Trump for his comments about women, Muslims, and immigrants saying that he is proud of America’s diversity and proud of the strong women in his life. “I am so proud to be a strong man supporting a strong woman who will make history,” he said. A video from the event will be added when/if available.
On Sunday night, presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in the second of three debates. The debate was intended to be a town hall style event moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Raddatz; however, it quickly descended into a series of personal attacks. Clinton hammered Trump for his comments about women, Muslims, immigrants, and everyone else has insulted. Trump went after Bill Clinton’s sexual scandals and threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton if he is elected. For 90 minutes, the candidates bickered, and occasionally, spoke about policy.
While pundits will argue who won and who lost last night’s debate, what is important is who you feel will best represent you. This political cycle has become more about personality and less about the issues at stake. Both candidates have outlined a series of policies they believe are important to them and that says a lot about their beliefs. What is key is that on November 8, you have a choice. You have a voice at the ballot box and make sure it is heard. Vote.
A video replay of the debate is below.
Hillary for America responded to the debate with two press releases. The first is titled “Results are In: Clinton Won the Debate” and second is titled “Another Night of Trump’s Lies.” Both press releases are below.
Results Are In: Hillary Clinton Won The Debate
The results from the second presidential debate are crystal clear, Hillary Clinton is the victor. Last night, Donald Trump repeated the same falsehoods he’s spewed since the start of his campaign, admitted to evading federal taxes for years and tried to mask his offensive comments and actions against women as “locker room talk.” Post-debate polls and journalist have agreed there’s only one candidate fit to be commander-in-chief.
@nytimes: Clinton endured the nuclear attack and Trump solved none of his problems.
@HuffingtonPost: Political figures from both parties thought Trump’s performance was a disaster
@Mic: Hillary Clinton won the second #debate, mostly because Donald Trump totally imploded
LA Times: Second presidential debate updates: Hillary Clinton won again, our analysts say “… He [Trump] had a big hole to climb out of, and he did not do it. He was snappish throughout, repeatedly interrupting Clinton and badgering the moderators. He repeated falsehoods — that neighbors of the San Bernardino terrorists saw bombs in their apartment and said nothing, that he had never tweeted about a sex tape involving last week’s Trump target, a former Miss Universe … Clinton, by contrast, was knowledgeable on policy matters and handled criticisms … It seems unlikely that he will benefit in any meaningful way from tonight’s debate, and it’s very possible she will benefit.”
Washington Post: On Twitter, Hillary Clinton won the debate “In general, Twitter users were more favorable to Clinton than Trump — in line with the snap polls. This was particularly true when she addressed the tape of Trump’s lewd comments about women and in the half-hour after the debate.”
New York Times: “With Donald J. Trump’s campaign engulfed in crisis, the second presidential debate promised a clash of grand proportions: a decisive, even cataclysmic showdown between one candidate on his heels and the other, Hillary Clinton, emerging as a strong front-runner.”
Reuters: “Wall Street rose on Monday morning amid gains across most sectors, driven by oil prices, and as Democrat Hillary Clinton was widely seen as the winner of the second presidential debate. A Clinton presidency would be more positive for the markets because her positions are more well known than those of her Republican rival Donald Trump, according to a Reuters poll.”
Economic Times: Hillary Clinton ‘clear winner’ of 2nd presidential debate: Polls “Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton today emerged as the “clear winner” after the second US presidential debate … Trump fell back on the tricks he has learned from his years in pro wrestling and reality television, making clear how deep his cynicism goes and how little regard he has for his party, let alone the presidency … The editorial added that during the debate, Trump “struggled” to construct coherent statements of his own policies, “wandering down strange, shadowy alleyways as he pursued his various claims about Clinton”, including that she, not he, was responsible for his birth”
Washington Post: “Winner: Hillary Clinton: … Clinton went into this debate with massive momentum in the race — much of it caused by Trump’s stumbles — and didn’t make any sort of glaring error that would allow the Republican back into the contest. She was steady, knowledgeable and pleasant — even in the face of some very personal attacks — throughout. And she let Trump talk, which, as has been the case since he got into the race, is always his undoing.”
New York Magazine: “On Sunday night, the Republican presidential nominee was asked why he had bragged about committing sexual assault. Donald Trump dismissed such boasts as locker-room talk, promised to prosecute his chief political opponent, attacked Hillary Clinton for allegations of sexual violence made against her husband (despite the fact that numerous women have made such allegations against Trump himself), all while sniffling into his microphone 93 times … Most early metrics suggest that Clinton won the debate”
Slate: “She had to appear unruffled while Trump, stewing and pacing, loomed behind her, physically menacing her with his bulk. He threatened to have her imprisoned if elected; she betrayed not a hint of rage or shock … Trump bullied and lied. He once again dismissed his hot mic boasts about sexual assault as “locker-room” talk. He denied sending an early morning tweet telling Americans to check out the (nonexistent) sex tape of a former Miss Universe, when the tweet, less than two weeks old, is on the internet for all to see”
Huffington Post: “The town hall format allowed Trump to stalk the stage, lurking behind Clinton as she answered questions, and he muscled his way into directly confronting the Democratic nominee on issues such as her emails and her modest record of accomplishment in Congress. He proudly admitted that he had indeed used $916 million in tax write-offs against his income, but attacked Clinton for not changing the very law he used … But other polls, including from CNN, showed Clinton winning handily.”
Business Insider: Clinton scores decisive victory over Trump in 2nd debate “A CNN/ORC instant poll taken immediately after Sunday night’s presidential debate in St. Louis gave Hillary Clinton a decisive victory over Donald Trump.Fifty-seven percent of 537 registered voters surveyed in the immediate aftermath of the political showdown said the Democratic nominee won the contest.”
The Oxford Eagle: Hillary Clinton won the presidential debate tonight over Donald Trump “Trump, the Republican, missed on facts in accusations against Clinton, he rambled at times late in the debate, and he spoke over moderators and Clinton at times. Trump even dissed his Republican vice presidential running mate at one point, when he disagreed with running mate Mike Pence’s position on the proper strategy to deal with the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Syria.”
Iowa State Daily Editorial: Clinton wins second presidential debate “… Trump seemed to cycle through sound bite arguments and, like last time, gave very little of anything resembling a straight answer. Almost immediately, Trump received questions about his latest scandal: his 2005 comments that depicted the Republican candidate bragging about sexual assault. And while Trump seems to think that this “locker room talk” means very little when faced with his favorite talking point, ISIS, he failed to show the American public not only remorse, but a stance that showed anything other than complete disregard for severity of sexual assault and the power of words.”
Denver Post Editorial: Trump doubles down on desperate strategy in second debate “Trump’s attacks before and during Sunday’s debate represented a cynical Hail Mary pass that we hope objective voters see through as the desperate acts of a badly damaged politician.Rather than trying to reverse the perception of him presented by a video recording in which he talks about women as if he were a common thug, Trump chose to blame Hillary Clinton for her responses to well-known problems she and her husband dealt with years ago. Only in a mind as unprincipled and undisciplined as Trump’s does such an argument make sense.”
Miami Herald Editorial: In debate, Trump’s scorched earth vs. down-to-earth Clinton “Donald Trump had one job at Sunday night’s debate: Persuade the group of undecideds in the room and beyond that his misogynistic bragging in a video that surfaced last week has absolutely no bearing on his fitness to be president. News flash: Donald Trump is unfit to to be president. He ducked, dodged, backtracked, spoke in ridiculously broad generalities — Hillary Clinton was a “disaster” as a U.S. senator — took responsibility for absolutely nothing … It was more of his scorched-earth approach, based on the belief that he will make life better for Americans simply because he says so.”
Las Vegas Sun Analysis: Donald Trump didn’t win anyone over with performance in second debate “Sunday night in St. Louis, Donald Trump proved yet again he’s not interested in winning over any voters outside of his loyalists. After reiterating a tepid apology for his disgusting hot-mic remarks in a 2005 video, he tried to divert attention from it by discussing former President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs and pledging to have a special prosecutor investigate Hillary Clinton over her email scandal if he were elected president. Classic Trump, the same as when he challenged moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN over the debate rules, saying he was in a “one-on-three” situation against Cooper, Clinton and moderator Martha Raddatz from ABC News. … As for those who question Trump’s fitness to serve, however, he did nothing to convince them to vote for him.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: A debate unlikely to win voters over to Trump’s side “Trump made clear he is not aiming for a campaign reset but instead will use misogyny as a theme to attack his opponent. As angry accusations flew between him and Clinton, Trump stated bizarrely, “We have a divided nation … because of people like her. Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart …tremendous hatred.” In response to the laundry list that Hillary Clinton gave of his insulting treatment of women, Latinos, Muslims, immigrants and disabled people, Trump’s response was to wave it off along with the scandal that erupted Friday regarding his 2005 remarks: “It’s just words, folks. Just words. … That was locker room talk.” He then, inexplicably, tried to transition from that to a critique of the Obama administration and the Islamic State. … Whether Trump managed to win over undecided voters with his show Sunday night is anyone’s guess. This newspaper is unswayed in our belief that he is dangerously unfit to be the next president.”
Chicago Tribune Editorial: Donald Trump may have lost the 2016 election in 2005 “The recording strikes Americans who’ve reliably loathed Trump as another we-told-you moment. They wonder, correctly, why all Republicans and Trump converts weren’t long ago repelled by his notorious comments about women, Mexicans, Muslims and others he has diminished. Why, Republicans, are you just now offended? Fair question. One answer: because this raw revelation reaches a more frightful order of magnitude. Here we have Trump not only demeaning women but describing how he preys on them. … We’ll be surprised if this week’s opinion polls don’t suggest that millions of Americans are finished with Trump. After Sunday night, this fate both echoes and looms: He may have lost the 2016 election in 2005.”
Salt Lake Tribune Editorial: Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate did little to steady his ship “With all the slime attached to Trump’s campaign, and not just in the past few days, his only hope of repairing the damage to his own chances, and to the whole election cycle, would be for him to make a convincing case, in the little time remaining, that in spite of everything he has the ideas, the skills and the temperament to lead this nation. He didn’t do that Sunday.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Desperation, thy name is Donald Trump: Thoughts after the second presidential debate “Perhaps the only suspense that remains in the final month of this race is whether Trump will face this adversity with any dignity. Spoiler alert: The Trump who showed up Sunday in St. Louis for his second debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton seems determined to go down in a blaze of desperation. The New York businessman is grasping for anything that might stop the bleeding from a series of self-inflicted wounds dating to their first face-off nearly two weeks ago…If Trump’s goal Sunday was to reassure his remaining supporters and to keep undecided voters from giving up on him, he failed before the Washington University debate even began.”
Dallas Morning News Editorial: Debate exposes the same old mile-wide-and-inch-thin Trump “With Republicans in panic mode — some even encouraging Trump to step down in favor of vice presidential nominee Mike Pence — Trump showed himself Sunday to be incapable of contrition. He also exhibited an inability to describe any strategy he would employ — from health care to Syria — if elected to the White House. While Democrat Hillary Clinton talked more about policy and tactics, Trump resorted to broad-brush — and often bewildering — attacks, such as saying Clinton “has tremendous hate in her heart.”
Boston Globe Editorial: Vile words drown Trump’s mediocre performance “AS HIS FELLOW Republicans deserted him one by one, Donald J. Trump put up the best fight he’s capable of at the second presidential debate in St. Louis on Sunday night. But it was nowhere close to good enough. Trump wasn’t convincing as a potential president. … There are probably no magic words that Trump could have said that would have undone the damage he has inflicted on his campaign. If anything, Sunday’s debate will make it easier for his fellow Republicans to leave him to his fate.”
Another Night of Donald Trump’s Lies
Donald Trump kept fact checkers busy after last night’s debate. In the 12 hours following the debate, he garnered more than 75 fact checks. From his wild exaggerations to dangerous falsehoods, Trump continued his pattern of bold-faced lying to millions of viewers. Here are just some of the reviews of Trump’s untrue statements on topics including taxes, foreign policy, his own offensive comments and more.
Trump’s Lies About His Own Offensive Comments to Women:
AP: “Donald Trump, asked whether his early morning tweets directing people to check out a sex tape showed discipline, said: ‘It wasn’t ‘check out a sex tape.’’ THE FACTS: Wrong. Trump told his 12.2 million Twitter followers to check out a sex tape as he criticized a former Miss Universe.”
CNN: “Trump: I didn’t say ‘check out the sex tape’ VERDICT: FALSE”
FactCheck.org: “Trump said he never tweeted ‘check out a sex tape’ in the wee hours of the morning a few days after the first presidential debate. That’s false — he did.”
Huffington Post: “During Debate, Trump Denies Telling People To Check Out A Sex Tape On Twitter. Yeah, well, he literally directed people to check out a sex tape on Twitter.”
NPR: “[DJT:] I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women that I do. [FACT CHECK:] Trump has had many occasions to make this claim over the course of the campaign, dating back to his tense interaction with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during the first Republican primary debate in Cleveland in August 2015, when Kelly reminded him of his history of offensive comments about women. Here is a partial list compiled by PBS.”
Politifact: “Trump said the tweet he sent out ‘wasn’t saying, ‘check out a sex tape’’ but rather to ‘just take a look at’ Machado’s background. That’s ridiculous. While Trump did urge his Twitter followers to check out Machado’s ‘past,’ he literally wrote ‘check out sex tape’ in the tweet. We rate his statement Pants on Fire!”
NPR: “[TRUMP:] No I didn’t say that at all. [FACT CHECK:] He did say that. The exact words were, ‘You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.””
Trump’s Lies About the Economy & Taxes:
Huffington Post: “Trump’s $20 Trillion Debt Line Is Ridiculous”
NPR: “[DJT:] We have no growth in this country. There is no growth. [FACT CHECKER:] The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international economic organization, evaluated the U.S. economy this summer and concluded: ‘Seven years after the financial crisis, the US economy has rebounded: output has surpassed its pre-crisis peak by 10%, robust private-sector employment gains have sharply reduced unemployment, fiscal sustainability has been largely restored and corporate profits are high.’”
AP:“Trump wrong on Clinton tax claim… DONALD TRUMP: ‘She is raising your taxes, and I am lowering your taxes. …She’s raising everybody’s taxes massively.’ HILLARY CLINTON: ‘He would end up raising taxes on middle-class families’ THE FACTS: Clinton is not raising taxes on ‘everybody.’ Nearly all of Hillary Clinton’s proposed tax increases would affect the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.”
Buzzfeed Reporter: “Trump says AGAIN that the US has the highest taxes in the world. That’s…untrue.”
FactCheck.org: “Trump said of Clinton’s plan, ‘She is raising everybody’s taxes massively.’ Everybody? No. Analyses by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and the pro-business Tax Foundation both concluded that almost all of the tax increases proposed by Clinton would fall on the top 10 percent of taxpayers. Hardest hit would be the less than 0.1 percent of taxpayers who earn more than $5 million per year.”
Huffington Post: “Note To Trump: This Is How The Senate Works. Trump seems to misunderstand how the Senate works. He accused Clinton of not doing enough to get rid of the carried interest loophole when she was a senator. Clinton noted that she has been in favor of getting rid it for years.”
Huffington Post: “Trump Says He’ll Get Rid Of A Wall Street Loophole. His Tax Plan Says He Won’t.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump admitted that he used a $916 million loss declared on his 1995 tax returns to avoid paying federal income taxes. But he refused to say how many years he paid no income tax and simultaneously claimed to have paid a ‘tremendous’ amount of taxes. More questions than answers.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said that growth is “down to 1 percent” and that taxes in the United States are the “highest in the world” Wrong.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said he would reduce the tax rate on business income to 15 percent. Not exactly.”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: IRS audit doesn’t prohibit Trump from releasing taxes”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s wrong on the U.S. being the highest taxed nation”
Trump’s Lies About The Affordable Care Act:
AP:“Trump overstates cost of Obama’s health plan. DONALD TRUMP: Obamacare ‘is going to be one of the biggest line items very shortly.’ THE FACTS: Trump vastly exaggerates the cost of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The cost of the coverage expansion in Obama’s health care law is nowhere near what the government spends on Medicare and Medicaid, for example.”
FactCheck.org: “He also cherry-picked high proposed premium increases in the exchanges, and he said that the law should be replaced with ‘something absolutely much less expensive,’ when repealing the law is expected to increase federal deficits.”
FactCheck.org: “Finally, Trump said that the ACA is ‘unbelievably expensive for our country. … We have to repeal it and replace it with something absolutely much less expensive.’ But the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation’s latest estimates on the impact of repealing the law find doing away with it would likely increase federal deficits over the 2016-2025 time period.”
Trump’s Lies About Hillary Clinton and Health Care:
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said that Mrs. Clinton “wants to go to a single-payer plan” like the health care system in Canada. Untrue.”
NPR: “[DJT:] But she wants to go to single-payer. [FACT CHECKER:] Clinton does not support single-payer. She supports expanding Medicare to people 55 and over, but has not come out in support of a complete overhaul of the health system so that it would be more like Canada or many European health systems.”
Politifact: “Trump says Clinton ‘wants to go to a single-payer plan’ for health care. She has consistently said she would fight efforts to repeal Obamacare and would try to improve it. She said she wants a public option to be ‘possible’ but she has not called for moving to a system of only single payer. Clinton has not called for a single-payer plan. At times, she has praised the health care systems of other countries that have a single-payer plan, but she has not advocated that plan for the United States. We rate Trump’s claim False.”
AP:“Trump wrong on Clinton and health care. DONALD TRUMP: ‘She (Clinton) wants to go to a single-payer plan, which would be a disaster…she wants to go to single-payer, which means the government basically rules everything.’ THE FACTS: It’s Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — not Clinton — who supports a Canada-style government-run health care system.”
Buzzfeed: “Trump falsely claims Clinton is proposing Canada-style healthcare system.”
FactCheck.org:“Trump used an old GOP scare tactic, wrongly claiming that Clinton wanted to implement a government-run, ‘single-payer,’ health care system, like Canada’s… Clinton supports making Medicare available to those over age 55, and creating a ‘public option,’ or a federal insurance plan, that would compete with private plans on the ACA exchanges. She hasn’t called for a single-payer system.”
Trump’s Lies About Immigration:
Buzzfeed: “Donald Trump claimed that the US doesn’t have borders. ‘We’re going to have borders on our country that we don’t have now,’ Trump said. But enforcement along the US-Mexico border has never been higher. There are currently about 21,000 agents patrolling more than 6,000 miles of the nation’s borders.”
CBS News: “TRUMP: ‘I understand the border. She doesn’t. She wants amnesty for everybody.’… It is not true that Clinton supports ‘amnesty for everybody,’ but she does want to make it easier for people who came here illegally to stay by passing legislation with a path to citizenship.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump says Mrs. Clinton wants “amnesty for everybody, come on in, come on over.” Not her position.”
NPR: “[DJT:] […] we are letting people into this country that are going to cause problems and crime like you’ve never seen. We’re also leading drugs for through our southern border at a record clip. At a record clip and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. [FACT CHECKER:] Apprehensions at the Southwest border—a proxy for attempted crossings—have dropped by 79 percent from the peak in 2000. The Pew Research Center reports more Mexicans left the US than entered between 2009 and 2014.”
NPR: “[DJT:] ICE just endorsed me. They’ve never endorsed a presidential candidate. [FACT CHECKER:] The federal bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not make an endorsement. A union of immigration and customs officers voted to endorse Trump.”
Washington Post:“Trump overstates, by a lot, when he said Syrian refugees are coming to the United States by the “hundreds of thousands.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said we have hundreds of thousands of people pouring into the United States from places like Syria, and we have no idea who they are. Way off.”
Buzzfeed: “Trump’s said the US took in ‘tens of thousands’ of Syrian refugees. That is not accurate.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump says ‘tens of thousands’ of people from Syria are coming to the U.S. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘We are going to areas like Syria, where they’re coming in by the tens of thousands.’ FACT CHECK: False.”
Trump’s Lies About Muslims and Terrorism:
Buzzfeed: “Trump falsely claimed that Muslims in the United States are not reporting terror plots to the authorities. Trump cited San Bernardino where he said there were ‘bombs on the floor’ of the suspects’ apartment. There has never been any evidence that this was the case.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump claims that ‘many people’ saw bombs at the apartment of the San Bernardino shooters. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘We have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it. As an example: San Bernardino, many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people.’ FACT CHECK: False. To this day, no one has said they’ve seen bombs in the apartment of the San Bernardino shooters’ apartment.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton will not say the phrase ‘radical Islam.’ TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘When there’s a problem, you have to state what the problem is or at least say the name. She won’t say the name and President Obama won’t say the name.’ FACT CHECK: False. Clinton used the term in June during an interview on NBC News’ ‘Today Show.’”
CNN: “Trump: ‘Many people saw the bombs all over the apartment’ VERDICT: FALSE”
FactCheck.org: “In stressing that Muslims need to notify the police of wrongdoing in their communities, Trump claimed without evidence that ‘many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people’ in San Bernardino last year.”
Huffington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s Claim That ‘Many People Saw The Bombs’ In San Bernardino Is False”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton has never used the phrase ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ Just flat wrong.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said ‘many people saw’ bombs all over the apartment of a couple who committed the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. Not true.”
Politifact: “Trump said of Clinton, ‘These are radical Islamic terrorists and she won’t even mention the word.’ After the Orlando shooting, Clinton said she had no problem saying ‘radical Islamism’ which is similar but not the same as ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ She has also said that leaders should be careful not to demonize the religion of Islam, and that the United States needs specific strategies to fight ISIS. We rate this claim Mostly False.”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s false claim on San Bernardino”
Huffington Post: “Don’t Believe Trump: No Syrian Refugees In The U.S. Have Been Linked To Terror”
Trump’s Lies About the Iraq War:
AP: “DONALD TRUMP: ‘I would not have had our troops in Iraq.’ Trump has repeatedly said in the campaign he opposed the Iraq War before it started. But the facts are clear: He did not.”
Buzzfeed: “Trump: ‘I was against the war in Iraq.’ No. He wasn’t.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump says he was against the war in Iraq, and that suggestions he was not have been debunked. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘I was against the war in Iraq,’ Trump said, as he did in the first debate with Clinton. ‘It has not been debunked.’ FACT CHECK: False and false.”
CNN: “Trump: ‘I would not have had our people in Iraq.’ VERDICT: FALSE”
CNN: “Trump: My opposition to the Iraq War “has not been debunked” VERDICT: FALSE”
FactCheck.org: “And finally Trump pins too much blame for the rise in ISIS — whose origin dates back to the Bush administration — on the troop withdrawal…”
Huffington Post:“Donald Trump Continues To Lie About The Iraq War”
FactCheck.org: “Trump repeated that he ‘was against the war in Iraq’ and claimed that this ‘has not been debunked.’ But we have found no evidence that he was against the Iraq War before it began.”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Yes, Trump’s Iraq War claim has been debunked.”
NPR: “[DJT]: I was against the war in Iraq. [FACT CHECKER:] There is no evidence to support this claim.”
Trump’s Lies About Libya:
FactCheck.org:“Trump conveniently leaves out that he posted a YouTube video in February 2011 voicing support for U.S. intervention in Libya to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power, and that he told CNN in a 2007 interview that the U.S. should ‘declare victory [in Iraq] and leave … [T]his is a total catastrophe and you might as well get out now, because you just are wasting time.’”
FactCheck.org:“It’s been half a year, and Trump is still making the false claim that ‘ISIS has a good chunk’ of Libyan oil fields. We first flagged this statement in April, when an expert on Libya’s oil operations told us there’s no evidence that the Islamic State has control of any oil fields in that country.”
Washington Post:“Fact Check: Trump’s wrong on ISIS and Libyan oil”
AP:“Trump wrong that IS is taking Libyan oil. DONALD TRUMP: ‘ISIS has a good chunk of their oil,’ referring to Libya. THE FACTS: Not quite. While it is true that the Islamic State group has targeted Libya’s oil fields and has aspired to grab some of the country’s oil resources, as it did in Syria, there is no evidence that it is reaping any revenue from Libyan oil. The prospect of the extremist group seizing Libyan oil is one reason the U.S. has conducted limited airstrikes against the Islamic State in Libya, where it now has a very small presence.”
FactCheck.org: “Trump said that ‘Ambassador [Chris] Stevens sent 600 requests for help’ before he was killed in an attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. But as the Washington Post Fact Checker reported, not all 600 came from Stevens, nor were they all requests for security upgrades, as it may have appeared to those watching or listening to the debate.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said Clinton ignored 600 requests for increased security from J. Christopher Stevens, the ambassador to Libya, and only communicated with Sidney Blumenthal. Extremely misleading”
Washington Post: “THE FACT CHECKER | Trump made a ludicrous claim that U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens made 600 requests for help before he perished in the attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi.”
Huffington Post: “Clinton refused to answer Stevens’ calls for help, Trump claimed… However, repeated GOP-led investigations into the Benghazi incident have found no evidence to blame Clinton for the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans there in a 2012 attack.”
Lies About Iran:
CBS News: “Donald Trump claimed that the Iran nuclear deal meant the United States paid Iran $150 billion. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘When I look at the Iran deal and how bad it is for us, it’s a one-sided transaction where we’re giving back $150 billion dollars to a terrorist state.’ FACT CHECK: False.”
CNN: “Trump says US is giving $150 billion to Iran REALITY CHECK: FALSE”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s claim that Iran got $150 billion from the United States. THE FACTS: Trump always makes it sound like this is U.S. taxpayer money — and he always uses a too-high estimate.”
Trump’s Lies About Syria:
Buzzfeed:“Trump falsely declared that ‘Aleppo has already fallen.’”
Huffington Post: “Meanwhile, he added, only Assad’s coalition is fighting ISIS. In fact, Assad and his allies have focused on targeting civilians opposed to his rule and rebels who remain embedded among them ― allowing extremist militants to spread for years and control much of the country.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump accused Mrs. Clinton of being there for President Obama’s “line in the sand” in Syria. She said she wasn’t. Trump is wrong.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said Syria, Russia and Iran are fighting the Islamic State. Mostly misleading.”
NPR: “[DJT:] I think that it basically has fallen. OK? It basically has fallen. [FACT CHECKER:] Aleppo has not fallen to the Syrian government.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said that the United States signed a “peace treaty” to bring an end to the civil war in Syria. Not even close.”
Trump’s Lies About Russia:
Huffington Post: “Trump said he has no special ties to Russia, despite his campaign’s multiple ties to the country’s business and his stated admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.”
NPR: “[TRUMP:] I don’t deal there and no businesses there have no loans from Russia. [FACT CHECKER:] Trump may not have current business ties with Russia, but he has in fact tried to engage his business interests with Russia since the 1980’s.”
Buzzfeed Reporter: “Trump just said ‘we don’t know if it is the Russians doing the hacking.’ Ummm… no.”
NPR: [DJT:] But I notice anytime anything wrong happens they like to say the Russians we don’t know if it’s Russian. [FACT CHECKER:] The U.S. intelligence community and Department of Homeland Security said Friday that Russia is behind this year’s campaign of hacks and the release of information related to the 2016 campaign.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said “maybe there is no hacking,” in response to Mrs. Clinton’s claim that Russians are engaged in an unprecedented effort to influence the election — on Mr. Trump’s behalf. Hacking is endemic.”
Trump’s Lies About Clinton’s Emails:
FactCheck.org: “Trump twisted the facts when he directly addressed Clinton about her use of a private email system while secretary of state. ‘You get a subpoena and after getting the subpoena you delete 33,000 emails. And then you acid wash them — or bleach them, as you would say — a very expensive process,’ Trump said…. there is no evidence that Clinton knew that the emails were deleted after the subpoena was issued.”
Trump’s Lies About Birtherism:
FactCheck.org:“Trump is wrong about Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager. Solis Doyle has said that a ‘rogue volunteer coordinator’ in Iowa was immediately fired when the campaign found out that the aide forwarded an email promoting the birther conspiracy.”
FactCheck.org: “Trump: ‘Sidney Blumenthal — he’s another real winner that you have — and he’s the one that got this started’ As for Blumenthal, he has denied a claim made by McClatchy’s former bureau chief James Asher that Blumenthal, a senior adviser to Clinton’s 2008 campaign, encouraged McClatchy to chase the story of Obama’s birth… Other than that, there is no clear evidence to support Asher’s account.”
NPR: “[TRUMP:] Well, you owe the president an apology because, as you know very well, your campaign Sidney Blumenthal, he’s another real winner that you have. And he’s the one who got this started along with your campaign manager and they were on television just two weeks ago he was saying likely that. [FACT CHECKER:] We have fact-checked Trump’s birther claims previously (several times) online and on air. […] As we noted, ‘There’s a big difference between what fringe supporters of Clinton said at the time, who were disavowed by the candidate, and the campaign Trump himself undertook in the subsequent years.’”
Leading up to tonight’s presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, Hillary for America released a series of responses to Trump’s proposals on the economy, taxes, child care, maternity leave, foreign policy, health care, immigration, trade, and the Veterans Administration. A copy of the release is below.
In a prebuttal to the first presidential debate, Hillary for America released a review of Donald Trump’s few policy proposals from experts and journalists, who have judged them variously as incoherent, unrealistic, excessively costly, and devastating for working families – where he has even bothered to address the issues at all. Whether it’s a dangerous immigration plan based on mass-deportation and a “great and beautiful wall,” a half-baked child care plan that would leave millions of middle-class families to fend for themselves, tax and economic proposals to benefit the rich and explode the national debt while leaving middle-class families holding the bag, or a broader economic agenda that would plunge our country into recession and cost us millions of jobs — Trump’s policy proposals have been panned by experts and critics across the political spectrum.
ECONOMIC PLAN
Donald Trump’s economic playbook has only one trick: to get ahead and stiff others. From a decades-long pattern of scamming small businesses and outsourcing jobs, to a proposal to cut taxes for billionaires like himself and his family at the expense of everyone else, Trump’s self-serving strategy is clear. According to a former economic advisor to John McCain, Trump’s policies would destroy nearly 3.5 million jobs. In fact, economists and business leaders across the political spectrum agree that his economic plan would plunge our country back into recession.
“Quantifying Mr. Trump’s economic policies is complicated by their lack of specificity…Mr. Trump’s economic proposals will also result in larger federal government deficits and a heavier debt load…. the economy will be significantly weaker if Mr. Trump’s economic proposals are adopted…four basic conclusions regarding the impact of Mr. Trump’s economic proposals can be reached: 1) they will result in a less global U.S. economy; 2) they will lead to larger government deficits and more debt; 3) they will largely benefit very high-income households; and 4) they will result in a weaker U.S. economy, with fewer jobs and higher unemployment.”
WSJ:Economists Who’ve Advised Presidents Are No Fans of Donald Trump:
“Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump…garners no support from any of the White House economists who have advised U.S. presidents for the past half-century. The Wall Street Journal this month reached out to all 45 surviving former members of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under the past eight presidents, going back to Richard Nixon, to get their views on this year’s presidential election. Among 17 Republican appointees who responded to Journal inquiries, none said they supported Mr. Trump.
“A majority of business economists in a new survey said Hillary Clinton is the best choice to oversee the U.S. economy as president. Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, didn’t even come in second.”
Politico:Economists savage Trump’s economic agenda:
“…if Trump’s policies were enacted it would be some form of disaster for the economy. If you force 11 million undocumented immigrants to leave in a year, you would be looking at a depression. It would not help the people he is talking to, they would be the first to go down.”
“[Trump’s] prescriptions have progressed from preposterous to merely intellectually dishonest; their foreseeable impact on the U.S. economy, from destabilizing to merely dangerous.”
“For those keeping track, under Trump’s trade plans, we would see higher prices, reduced spending power, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy, both here at home and abroad, according to the analysis. Of course, that’s the last thing our country and the global economy need right now.”
TAXES
Donald Trump has put out so many different tax plans during this campaign that we’re losing count. But his latest effort is more of the same: doubling down on tax cuts that benefit billionaires like himself and his family, while maintaining his Trump Loophole — the massive backdoor tax cut that would let the wealthy pay less than half the current tax rate on a significant portion of their income. He has also proposed a tax cut that would save his own family $4 billion (that is, if Trump is worth as much as he says he is) – while doing nothing for 99.8% of Americans. And even as Trump is exploding the debt by more than $5 trillion with tax cuts weighted towards millionaires and billionaires, his plan includes a bait-and-switch that would result in millions of middle-class families, including half of all single parents, paying higher taxes.
Washington Post:A new study says Trump would raise taxes for millions:
“More than half of America’s single parents and one-fifth of its families with children could see their federal income taxes go up under Republican Donald Trump’s revamped tax plan…”
TPM: Trump’s Economic Plan Runs Afoul Of Deficit Hawks By Ballooning The Debt:
“The organization of deficit hawks projected that Trump’s plans would increase the deficit by $5.3 trillion over a decade.”
Vox:Donald Trump’s “new” tax plan: a giveaway to the rich that he pretends helps the middle class:
“ Long story short: This is big money, going from very successful businesses to their wealthy shareholders, that Trump is proposing to tax at a much lower rate.
Fundamentally, Trump is still offering voters the same approach to taxes he’s been offering all campaign: massive cuts for corporations of all kinds, big rate cuts for top earners, and benefits supposedly aimed at the middle class that offer less than they initially appear to.”
NPR: Analysis: Trump Tax Plan Would Cost Trillions, Boost Incomes For The Rich:
“The right-leaning Tax Foundation released an analysis Monday that said Trump’s campaign would shrink federal revenues by as much as $5.9 trillion over 10 years…In that top 1 percent, the income growth is particularly high — 10.2 to 16 percent.”
Trump claims his irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy would be paid for by economic growth – but, as we just made clear, his agenda plunges the economy back into recession.
CHILD CARE
Under Donald Trump’s child care plan, close to 80% of families might, at most, get only four cents on the dollar for child care costs—and millions of these families could very well get nothing or even face a tax increase under Trump’s overall plan. This, while Trump’s plan would provide around 40 cents on the dollar or more to taxpayers in the top bracket. It’s no surprise this regressive policy came from the man living in the penthouse of Trump Tower, who has relied on government his entire life to help pad his own pockets.
The Guardian:Trump’s child care plan is good for the rich. But what about the rest of us?:
“Trump’s plan completely fails to address the day-to-day realities of America’s working families, because it fails to address the underlying problem: it does nothing to make child care affordable. In the United States, the average cost of center-based child care for the typical working family with an infant and preschooler is about $18,000, a steep price for families to cover. If a family cannot afford child care, a tax deduction is irrelevant – a family can’t deduct something that they can’t pay for to begin with.”
Esquire:Why Donald Trump’s New Child-Care Plan Is a Joke:
“However, as reporter Jeremy Diamond clarified, the plan does not entail six weeks of full paid maternity leave. Instead, it offers six weeks of full unemployment benefits. Trump also announced a plan for parents to deduct child-care expenses from their income taxes, capped at the ‘average cost of care’ per state, and deductibles for stay-at-home parents.
All said, Trump’s plan is a big government idea very obviously meant to cater to female voters—and very obviously Ivanka’s brainchild.”
Salon:Trump’s child-care policy: A combination of the useless and the inadequate:
“As Trump hinted last month, the centerpiece of his plan is a provision letting parents deduct the costs of child care from their taxes. The problem here is that people who need the most help affording child care — poor and low-income families — frequently don’t have any federal income tax burden. If they’re already paying zero dollars in federal income tax, an extra deduction won’t do them any good; they’ll still be paying zero dollars.”
MATERNITY LEAVE
Trump’s “maternity leave” plan is demeaning and damaging–casting women as the sole caretaker for a child and undercutting women in the workplace. By only providing leave to married mothers who give birth, the plan tells us which parents Trump doesn’t believe count: single moms, women who can’t physically have a child, same-sex couples that use a surrogate, parents who adopt, and all fathers. It’s not only demeaning, it’s also harmful. Studies have shown that providing paid leave to new mothers, but not to new fathers, negatively affects women’s return to the workplace, can discourage employers from hiring or promoting female employees, and can increase the gender pay-gap.
Huffington Post:Trump’s Maternity Leave Plan Is His Biggest Insult To Women Yet:
“Let’s repeat that: Trump’s solution for struggling American families leaves out men. More than any other problem with the plan ― and there are lots ― omitting half the population is its profoundest and most revelatory flaw, confirming once again Trump’s antiquated, sexist and harmful worldview: Men work. Women do the child-raising. The end.”
Vox:Donald Trump’s plan to fund a paid family leave program is totally absurd:
“Since everything we know so far about Trump’s plan fits into two tweets, it’s hard to say for sure what he’s envisioning. But 88 percent of workers right now aren’t covered by family leave, so requiring businesses to pay for it on their own would be a very big burden. And if leave is really “guaranteed,” it’s going to require something more than a tax credit to make that happen.”
VICE:Donald Trump’s Maternity Leave Plan Is a Big Deal, Too Bad It Sucks:
“Another way Trump’s plan falls short of Clinton’s in scope is that it doesn’t do much for the poor. Most of the childcare benefits would come in the form of income tax breaks, which won’t benefit the poorest Americans, who don’t pay income taxes and would have to pony up for childcare up front.”
Washington Post:Why Trump’s maternity leave plan is unconstitutional:
“In sum, if Trump’s maternity leave plan were ever enacted into law, it would likely be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional. Trump has demonstrated utter contempt for constitutional rights and limitations on government power on a shockingly wide range of issues. His discriminatory maternity leave plan is another addition to a troubling list.”
Washington Post: Donald Trump’s new paid maternity leave plan might exclude single mothers: “The plan is discriminating against fathers, fathers and mothers who adopt, LGBT parents and apparently some set of unmarried parents,” said Carmel Martin, executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.”
FOREIGN POLICY
Donald Trump hasn’t said much in terms of real plans to keep our country safe. But foreign policy experts agree, the ideas Trump has mentioned are dangerous, reckless, and wrongheaded. Yet Trump continues to spew fact-free rhetoric about global issues that would make us less secure, including consistent claims that he has a “secret” plan to defeat ISIS, threats to break up NATO along with accusations that NATO countries are “ripping off the United States”, and reckless comments on nuclear weapon.
Washington Post:It’s almost like Donald Trump’s secret plan to defeat ISIS never actually existed: “But on the list of things on which Trump have over-promised and under-delivered, this surely ranks toward the top. He promised he had a “foolproof” way of ending a foreign policy challenge of massive consequence, and now he’s punting to the generals.”
“The bottom line is this: Trump’s erratic and belligerent slogans are no substitute for policies based on facts and sound judgment.”
PoliticsUSA:The Reviews Are In: Trump ISIS Speech Was Full Of Lies And Gibberish That Made No Sense:
“The consensus among non-partisan observers is that the speech that Donald Trump gave about ISIS was so full of lies, inconsistencies, and gibberish that it made no sense.”
New York Times:Donald Trump Says NATO is ‘Obsolete,’ UN is ‘Political Game’
“President Obama on Friday rebuked Mr. Trump for his comments, saying he worried the real estate billionaire “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally.”
“The bottom line is this: Trump’s erratic and belligerent slogans are no substitute for policies based on facts and sound judgment.”
CNN:Japan and South Korea hit back at Trump’s nuclear comments
“Howls of inaccuracy came from the South Korean Foreign Ministry, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, and even the White House. Ambassador Mark Lippert said Seoul pays for 55% of all non-personnel costs. And former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill was more succinct. He told CNN, “I don’t know what he’s talking about but clearly neither does he.”
Business Insider:‘Total catastrophe’: Experts say Donald Trump’s position on nuclear proliferation would be a disaster
“ But experts from two nonpartisan organizations opposed to the spread of nuclear weapons told Business Insider his position would be dangerous. Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said Japan building nuclear weapons would be a “total catastrophe for Japan and US nuclear power programs.”
The Atlantic:With His Finger on the Trigger: The insane risks of Donald Trump’s stance on nuclear weapons:
“Stephen Walt, a prominent realist scholar, has written, “realists prefer to ‘speak softly and carry a big stick;’ Trump’s modus operandi consists of waving the big stick while running a big mouth.” His loose talk during the campaign has already damaged America’s alliances. And on the central question of nuclear weapons, he has clearly exposed himself to be weak-kneed in his acceptance of international proliferation.”
HEALTHCARE
Donald Trump has promised that he would immediately work to repeal Obamacare, taking health insurance away from 20 million people – and letting the insurance companies write the rules all over again. Trump’s suggested healthcare plan would cost hundreds of billions more, would nearly double the uninsured rate and does not address people with pre-existing conditions. Americans cannot afford that.
Newsmax: Trump’s Healthcare Plan Could Cost 25 Million Americans Their Coverage:
“Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that studies healthcare, released a study on Friday analyzing the two candidate’s plans. If Trump becomes president, up to 25 million people could lose their coverage, most of them low-income and already in poor health. Under Clinton, 9.6 million more people could gain access to healthcare.”
Chicago Tribune: Study finds 20M would lose health coverage under Trump plan:
“A new study that examines some major health care proposals from the presidential candidates finds that Donald Trump would cause about 20 million to lose coverage while Hillary Clinton would provide coverage for an additional 9 million people.”
CNBC: Obamacare repeal would lead to 24 million more people without health insurance:
“If the next president and Congress repeal Obamacare — as many Republican elected officials want to do — there could end up being more people without health insurance than before the law went into effect, a new study says. A total of 24 million more people would lose health coverage by 2021 if the Affordable Care Act was repealed, according to the study issued Monday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.”
IMMIGRATION
Donald Trump’s immigration plan remains the same as it’s always been: Send a deportation force into American communities to tear apart families and deport 16 million people from the United States—including every undocumented immigrant and American citizens born here to undocumented parents. Experts say Trump’s immigration policies would be detrimental to the economy. Oh, and he wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States and falsely claims Mexico will pay for his giant concrete wall.
David Leopold: Deconstructing Donald Trump’s horrifying 10-step assault on immigration, due process and other cherished American values: “Rhetorical gymnastics aside, what’s crystal clear after Wednesday’s immigration speech is that Donald Trump’s ugly vision of America would rip American families apart, devastate communities, wreak havoc on our economy, and threaten our security at home and abroad.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian:Trump’s immigration plan would cost 4 million jobs, according to Wharton model:
“If Trump were to deport 10 percent of undocumented workers per year during two terms in office, based on the limitations of the model, the U.S. would have about 156 million jobs in 2030, compared to the 160 million jobs that the country would have with the its current immigration policies.”
Washington Post: Donald Trump’s “Humane” 1950s Model for Deportation, ‘Operation Wetback,’ Was Anything But: “
Like usual, [Trump] doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Rodolfo Acuña, professor emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge, told The Huffington Post … Brownell said, ‘Just give them some live ammo, let them shoot a few people. Then everyone will be scared and they won’t come across the border,” he said. “Really humane.”
CityLab: The Price of Mass Deportation; Trump wants to deport 11 million immigrants. Here are the likely economic consequences of that:
California could lose $100 billion of its GDP, annually. Texas could lose $60 billion. New Jersey, $25 billion. All but 5 U.S. states would see at least 1 percent of their GDP disappear each year. The resulting nationwide losses would build up to about $4.7 trillion in ten years.
TRADE
Donald Trump may talk tough on trade, but his own record of outsourcing contradicts his message: Trump clothing in Mexico, Trump ties in China, Trump shirts in Bangladesh, Trump furniture in Turkey and Germany, Trump mirrors in India, Trump barware in Slovenia. Trump even used to defend outsourcing, saying it created jobs in the long run. Meanwhile, Trump’s statements on trade have been either erratic and irresponsible, full of lies, or (occasionally) taken straight from Hillary’s fact sheets and onto his teleprompter.
Throughout this campaign, Trump’s statements on trade have been erratic and irresponsible — full of bluster, empty promises, and recklessness that would put American jobs at risk. Trump repeatedly rejects the idea that Americans can compete and win in the global economy and does not offer a concrete plan to actually create good-paying jobs here in America.
New York Times: Why a President Trump Could Start a Trade War With Surprising Ease :
“Mr. Trump is proposing a reordering of the global economic system that would fundamentally reshape the structure of American industry. He could start a trade war that would threaten not only American exporters who need access to foreign markets, but also any business that relies on commodities or products made overseas.”
Vox: Study: Donald Trump’s trade policies could cost 4 million jobs:
“The study, from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, attempted to quantify the impact of Trump’s proposed trade policies. Its conclusion: If a President Trump did what Candidate Trump promised, the US economy would lose more than 4 million jobs and fall into a recession.”
The Daily Beast: Donald Trump’s Trade Talk Is Garbage—Literally:
“Two powerful groups, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce, moved swiftly to condemn Trump’s [trade policy] speech. Both groups often align themselves with pro-business GOP policy makers, and it is especially unusual for them to take on the Republican presidential nominee so directly.”
CNBC: Trump’s trade policies would send US into recession, study says:
“The study released on Monday by researchers at the non-partisan Peterson Institute for International Economics illustrates how, even as the New York businessman pledges to boost growth and create millions of jobs, most mainstream economists view his economic policies as dangerous quackery.”
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
The policy reforms Donald Trump has proposed would put us on a path toward the wholesale privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Moving towards privatization as Trump’s plan does would gut the VA of the resources needed to provide high-quality, coordinated care. Fully privatizing the VA – the likely result of Trump’s proposals – is not a fix at all; it’s an ideological crusade that will only compound the problem. It would deprive our veterans of access to the specialized care they require and deserve and leave them at the mercy of a private healthcare market that’s ill-suited to handle their needs. And on top of it, Trump has proposed slashing funding for veterans’ health care by 29% within 10 years.
CBPP: Trump’s plans would cut veterans medical care by 29%:
“To help pay for his tax cut plan, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is proposing to cut total funding for non-defense programs funded through the annual appropriations process by 1 percent below the previous year’s total each year. While this may sound modest, the cumulative cut would be very substantial. By the tenth year (2026), non-defense appropriations would be about 29 percent below current levels, after accounting for inflation.”
MSNBC: Donald Trump Is Serious About Privatizing Veterans’ Care:
“And what about the rest of Trump’s “10-point plan”? The entire list is online, but it’s woefully thin. It’s really just a series of shallow slogans that mean very little, including the first point: Trump intends to appoint a VA Secretary “whose sole purpose will be to serve veterans.”
NPR: Is Donald Trump Proposing Privatizing The VA?:
“The other issue with Trump’s broad proposal is the price tag. According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump’s plan to reimburse vets for visits to any doctor they like would cost half a trillion dollars over 10 years.”
POLL: 64% of veterans oppose privatization — with 54% of them strongly opposing it — while only 29% support it.
NO POLICY
Donald Trump has run a campaign devoid of detailed plans – instead it’s been full of bluster, empty words, demagogic rhetoric. He has no real plans to improve the lives of the American people or make this country any better or safer.
“As debate looms, GOP nominee’s campaign can’t give clear answers to many basic policy questions.”
AP FACT CHECK: Trump says Clinton lacks policies. Seriously?
“THE FACTS: By any measure, Clinton has released far more specific plans on far more topics than her GOP rival. Trump’s website currently lays out eight policy positions, including spelling out his “economic vision,” his plans for child care and immigration reform and his plan to “pay for the wall.” Clinton’s offers position on 38 issues for potential voters to read.”
LA Times: Clinton has enough policy to fill a book, while Trump has said little about how he’d govern
“To only has Trump offered no plan to tackle mental healthcare, he’s presented the barest of outlines for most of his governing agenda, even as he now accuses Clinton of “running a policy-free campaign,” as he claimed at recent rally in Iowa. Trump’s vague tax, healthcare and national security proposals have baffled experts on both sides of the political aisle who have struggled to make sense of what Trump is offering. Even Trump’s immigration policy, perhaps the signature issue of his campaign, has proved difficult to decipher.”
Politico: Trump’s One Unbreakable Policy: Skip The Details
“He has boasted that his main policy adviser is himself and the advisers he does have say he doesn’t read briefing papers. He has mocked Hillary Clinton for surrounding herself with “eggheads” and churning out reams of wonky government reform proposals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will be speaking on Trump’s behalf at this week’s Republican convention in Cleveland, recently said “it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know a lot about the issues.”
TIME: In an interview Trump admits he isn’t worried about creating policy as they are “a waste of paper”
“He [Trump] even mocks her focus on putting out so many policy proposals, a longtime tradition for major party nominees. “She’s got people that sit in cubicles writing policy all day. Nothing’s ever going to happen. It’s just a waste of paper.” (The Clinton campaign counts that paper as a point of pride: 73,645 words of policy and counting.)”
NPR: Donald Trump’s Policy Positions Lack Specifics … So Far
“Asked Tuesday morning by Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s Today show about his lack of specific proposals, Trump didn’t answer the question and simply pointed to the record ratings he drew for Fox News.”
Today, Hillary for America Chair John Podesta released the following statement regarding Donald Trump’s campaign:
“It’s no surprise that Donald Trump is defending his most offensive views and extremist allies. This is the man who has spent 15 months insulting nearly every group in America — African Americans, Muslims, Latinos, Native Americans, immigrants, women, veterans, people with disabilities, and the list goes on. This is the man who hired Steve Bannon, a promoter of the racist ‘alt-right’ movement, to be his campaign CEO, and has inspired white supremacists and conspiracy theorists like David Duke and Alex Jones. So it’s no wonder Trump is standing up for them yet again. This is without a doubt deplorable — but this is who he is. This is what his campaign has always been about. And this is a fight we’re eager to have. As Hillary said today, we won’t back down. We will never stop calling out Trump’s bigotry and racist rhetoric, because we know our country is better than this. America is better than Donald Trump.”
On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton gave a speech at the Old State Capital in Springfield, Illinois. Speaking at the same venue as President Abraham Lincoln, Clinton gave a speech reminiscent of his “House Divided” speech in 1858. Clinton quotes Lincoln’s speech a number of time as she spoke about race and called for unity. “The challenges we face today do not approach those of Lincoln’s time, not even close, and we should be clear about that. But recent events across America have left people asking if we are still a house divided,” she said.
Clinton attacked Republican Donald Trump for turning the “Party of Lincoln” into the “Party of Trump.” She referred to Trump’s comments against Muslims, Mexicans, and women as an example of how Trump is a divisive figure. She said, “We need a president who can pull us together, not split us apart.” Clinton went on to say that “despite our best efforts and highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.” But if we work toward bridging the divides in the country, we will remain, in Lincoln’s words, “the last best hope on Earth.” A video of Clinton’s speech is below and a transcript can be read HERE.
Across the country fundraisers were held on behalf of Hillary for America. In St. Louis, Missouri, Clinton attended a fundraiser following her speech in Illinois. Senior Policy Advisor Jake Sullivan and Domestic Policy Advisor Sara Solow attended a lunch fundraiser in Menlo Park, California. Also in California, Trevor Houser spoke at a clean energy roundtable discussion that was hosted by Mike Levin and Michael Swords. Finally, in New York City, De’Ara Balenger attended a fundraiser hosted by Phil Mahla and Neil Printz, and Mary Delaney Penick and David Penick.
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton attended a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During her speech, Clinton ripped into Republican Donald Trump for his speech yesterday in response to the deadly attack in Orlando, Florida. She criticized his divisive language and renewed proposal of banning all Muslims from entering the United States. She also spoke about the importance of regulating the sales of guns saying, “We need to lift up voices of moderation and tolerance. I believe we Americans are capable of both protecting our Second Amendment rights while making sure guns don’t fall into the wrong hands. The terrorist in Orlando was the definition of the wrong hands. And weapons of war have no place in our streets.” Clinton called for the country to come together and politicians to work together, across party lines, to ensure that an attack of this nature is not possible in the future. A video from her speech is below.
In Portland, Maine, a fundraiser was held on behalf of Hillary for America. Former Congressman Barney Frank and Mary Bonauto spoke at the event that was hosted at Coffey by Design.
On Friday, Bill and Chelsea Clinton held a number of Get Out the Vote events in New York. Bill began with a rally in the Bronx where he spoke to a group of supporters. During the event, he criticized Republican Donald Trump for his plan to build a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico and his plan to ban Muslims from entering the country. Bill said that what the country needs is more acceptance, not intolerance. He said, “No one who walked through that door today was asked to check your faith at the door, check your race at the door, and check your politics at the door. Everywhere in the world people are working together for inclusive economic opportunities, inclusive social policies, which is a fancy way of saying we love our differences.”
Bill then spoke at a rally at The Garden at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. During the event, he spent time detailing a number of Hillary’s platform points including her plans to reduce student debt, expand clean energy, and rebuild the economy. He criticized Bernie Sanders for making it sound as though Wall Street is the central problem in the country when in fact it is more complicated than that. He said, “I think it’s fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent and say, ‘It’s all good, just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine.'” He asked for voters support when New York holds its primary on April 19. Videos from today’s events will be posted when/if available.
Chelsea, meanwhile, had four events on her agenda. She attended events in Sands Point, Brooklyn, and New York City. During each of the events, Chelsea spoke with small groups of supporters touting her mother’s plans to improve heath care, enact stricter gun regulations, and keep America safe. She spoke about Hillary’s experience and how that sets her apart from the other candidates. Chelsea explained to each group how important the 2016 election is and asked them for their support in the upcoming New York primary.
In Hong Kong, a fundraiser was held for United States citizens currently living in the region. Chief Financial Officer Gary Gensler attended the event which was hosted by Young Joon Kim, Tony Miller, Robert Roche, Ruby Shang, Carolyn Wu, Wenchi Yu and James Zimmerman. The event was held at the home of Laura Howard.
Today, Hillary Clinton gave a speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Her speech focused on counterterrorism following the recent attacks in Brussels, Belgium, and the other ISIS led attacks that have been carried out across the world and in the United States. Clinton said that a response to terrorism is not one that should be made in anger, but should be handled with “steady hands.” Clinton said that she is the best candidate for taking on ISIS. She called for “strong, smart, steady leadership” and said that she is concerned by what she is hearing from Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. She criticized Trump and Cruz for calling for racial profiling of Muslims in the United States and increasing surveillance of Muslim Americans. She condemned such plans as wrong, counterproductive, and dangerous. A full video of her speech is below.
On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton hosted two town hall events in Iowa, the first in Waterloo and the second in Urbandale. At both events, she struck a similar tone by criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for suggesting that he would ban Muslims from entering the United States. Clinton blasted Trump for playing into the hands of ISIS and other extremist groups. She went on to speak about her recently announced plan to reform corporate tax policies. Clinton then took questions from the crowds, and she was asked about a variety of topics including voter apathy and immigration reform. A video from the Urbandale town hall is below, and a video from Waterloo will be added when/if available.
Today, Clinton attended two private fundraisers in New York City. Tomorrow, Clinton will attend a grassroots organizing event in Tulsa, Oklahoma followed by a fundraiser in St. Louis, Missouri. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
On Tuesday evening, Hillary Clinton denounced Republican Donald Trump’s recent comments that as president he would ban Muslims from entering the United States. During a town hall event in Salem, New Hampshire, Clinton said his comments provide propaganda opportunities for ISIS and other extremists. She said, “We’re dealing with a party at danger of losing its way, of undermining the values that we have stood for. Go back and read what George Washington said about how we must resist bigotry. Read about what religious freedom means, how our Constitution enshrines it.”
During the event, Clinton covered a number of topics of her platform, but she focused on the impact of drug abuse. New Hampshire has been hit hard by substance abuse issues, and Clinton has held two town halls in the state focusing on substance abuse and the required treatment. Clinton will be back in New Hampshire in a few weeks for the next Democratic Debate being held on December 19. A full video from the event is below.
Today, Clinton has scheduled two town halls and a private fundraiser in Iowa. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 
