It’s Trump v Clinton in a battle over who is the less unpopular
DONALD Trump doesn’t want to make the country great again — he wants to “take America backward”.
Hillary Clinton? She’d pave the way for abortions up until the moment of birth, abolish the right to own guns and “raise your taxes big league”.
On the first day of campaigning as the presumptive presidential nominees of their respective parties, both Trump and Clinton signalled the bitter battle they’ll be waging for the next five months as each sought to paint the other as too extreme and out of touch to tackle the US’s pressing problems.
“Do we want to put our health, our lives, our futures in Donald Trump’s hands?” Clinton asked on Friday.
“She’s as crooked as they come,” Trump shot back from his own stage.
The competing speeches in Washington, DC, which missed overlapping by mere minutes, were similar in tone and aggression, but different in almost every other way.
Clinton, who on Tuesday made it mathematically impossible for Bernie Sanders to overtake her for the Democratic presidential nomination, spoke to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a liberal group that backs abortion and more access to birth control.
Trump, who hasn’t had a Republican challenger for five weeks, spoke to the Faith & Freedom Coalition, a conservative group that has called North Carolina’s fight over bathrooms for transgender people “the biggest battle for our culture and our values we’ve seen in decades”.
Most recent polls show Clinton with a slight lead over Trump among voters, often within the margin of error. They also show that Americans think poorly of both candidates, feelings the harsh attacks can only intensify. While 53% of voters had an unfavorable view of Clinton in a June 2-5 poll by The Economist, the survey showed 61% also had an unfavorable view of Trump.
For the second time in as many speeches POLLS APART: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump depict each other in extreme terms this week, Trump used a teleprompter. He was halting, but largely stuck to the script — a request that Republican veterans have made in the hope that the former reality TVshow host would limit his unforced errors, such as questioning the qualifications of a federal judge based on his Mexican ancestry.
The thrice-married New Yorker called marriage and family the “building blocks of happiness and success”. He promised to “uphold the sanctity and dignity of life” and declared that the happiest people he knows all “have that great religious feel”.
“It’s more than the money, folks,” said Trump, who promises to make the US rich.
But Trump’s most intense remarks were saved for Clinton. He said the former secretary of state was a backer of “uncontrolled immigration” who would appoint “radical judges”, “destroy the rule of law” and ignore the will of the people.
“Her education policies, her economic policies, her immigration policies and her trade policies will plunge our poor AfricanAmerican and Hispanic communities into turmoil and even worse despair.”
Trump also promised to temporarily suspend the US’s refugee programme and divert the funds “for a new jobs programme for our inner cities”.
Clinton, in her first public appearance since Tuesday’s victory speech after becoming the first woman to clinch a major party’s presidential nomination, cast her speech as a call to arms for female voters. She called for investment in longer-lasting contraceptives, supported using federal funds to pay for safe abortions for lowincome women and called for an end to the gender pay gap.
“We are not going to let Donald Trump, or anyone else, turn back the clock.”
Clinton also assailed Trump’s comments on paid family leave and pay equity for women. — Bloomberg