Houston Chronicle Sunday

Stein: Time to reject ‘lesser evil’

- By Keri Blakinger keri.blakinger@chron.com

Donald Trump is an “incredible sexual predator” and Hillary Clinton an “economic predator,” Jill Stein told supporters at a jam-packed speaking event Saturday at Houston’s Last Concert Cafe.

The Green Party presidenti­al nominee laid into her liberal competitio­n, while panning the mainstream media and hitting on all her regular progressiv­e talking points during her sweep across Texas.

“While Donald Trump has been revealed to be the incredible sexual predator that he is, it creates this smoke screen that makes Hillary Clinton look really good,” she told the raucous crowd of more than 100 supporters. “The majority of Hillary’s voters don’t actually support Hillary — they oppose Donald Trump. Democracy is not a question of ‘Who do we hate the most?’ and ‘Who do we fear the most?’ ”

She said the GOP is a party of “hate and fear” but said Democrats are “the party of deportatio­n, detention and night raids.”

The event kicked off with a DJ, an acoustic gui- tar player pulled from the audience and a painting activity that allowed supporters to leave their handprints on a Stein portrait.

“This is what democracy looks like,” she said, to a chorus of cheers.

She called for higher wage and green energy policies, describing Texas as an environmen­tal “Wild West.”

Referencin­g the state’s diverse population, she touched on immigratio­n. “It was the border that crossed the Latino community, the Latino community did not cross that border,” she said

Taking the stage after a speaker who extolled the virtues of drug legalizati­on that would make heroin available at the corner store, Stein called for a change in drug policy.

“We need to end this war on drugs that has killed over 100,000 people in Mexico alone,” she said, without offering specifics.

The Massachuse­tts activist-doctor also told supporters that Libertaria­n candidate Gary Johnson has agreed to debate her.

“We live in a democracy; we have more than two deadly choices,” she reminded the cafe crowd. “It’s time for us to stand up and reject the lesser evil and support the greater good.”

 ?? Keri Blakinger / Houston Chronicle ?? Green Party presidenti­al candidate Jill Stein took questions from the crowd at the end of her Last Concert Cafe campaign stop Saturday in Houston.
Keri Blakinger / Houston Chronicle Green Party presidenti­al candidate Jill Stein took questions from the crowd at the end of her Last Concert Cafe campaign stop Saturday in Houston.

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