Hillary Clinton went for Donald Trump’s proverbial Achilles heel—his record with bankruptcy—as a warning about he would handle the U.S. economy.
Clinton appeared before union members in Detroit on Monday and got personal with the presumptive Republican nominee for his failed business ventures, particularly his casino holdings in Atlantic City.
The Democratic candidate was quoted by Politico saying: “Trump economics is a recipe for lower wages, fewer jobs, more debt. He could bankrupt America like he’s bankrupted his companies. I mean, ask yourself, how can anybody lose money running a casino? Really.”
Trump has filed a total of four business bankruptcies in the last 30 years, and all of them were about his failed casinos in New Jersey.
The Republican candidate first bankruptcy filing was in 1991 for the Taj Mahal. It was then followed by another filing in 1992 for the Trump Castle Associates. Then in 2004, Trump filed for Chapter 11 on Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts, and finally for Trump Entertainment Resorts in 2009.
In her speech, Clinton pointed out that much of Trump’s economic policies involve “running up our debt, starting trade wars, letting Wall Street run wild,” which she said “could cause another crash and devastate working families and our country.”
Trump had been defending his casino failures by stressing that he—personally—never went bankrupt.
“I have used the laws of this country… the (bankruptcy) chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my employees,” Trump said last year, according to Gant Daily.
Trump’s senior adviser Ed Brookover, meanwhile, highlighted the businessman’s record as a “job creator.”
In an interview with CNN, Brookover said Clinton “has a lot to learn about how American businesses work.”
“She overregulates, she overtaxes, she overpromises and doesn’t deliver,” Brookover said. “Mr. Trump has a long history of creating jobs, of creating wealth in this country.”
