MIAMI — Donald Trump lamented how hard it is to get a mortgage on Thursday, promising to lessen banking regulations to make borrowing money easier. Moments later, he produced a chart that depicted the housing market crash.
Speaking to the Home Builder’s Association, Trump said, “We’re having a massive cut in taxes. We’re having a massive cut in regulations, you know. And that includes banking regulation for you people, cause it’s impossible for you people to get get mortgages. So hard for people to get mortgages today.”
Trump’s cuts to regulations would likely rollback the very limitations put in place after the crash that sought to make borrowing money more difficult. He added, during that same riff, that the Dodd-Frank Act makes it “impossible” to borrow money. Trump has not, however, been specific about which regulations he plans to rollback.
But the GOP nominee has spoken this way before of Dodd-Frank, a law passed in the aftermath of The Great Recession. The Republican nominee called it a “disgrace” and a “disaster” during a March rally in Janesville, Wisconsin. One month prior, in Aiken, South Carolina, Trump talked about the need to “get rid of Dodd-Frank."
“We have to let bankers, legitimate people, go back to being bankers. You want to build a business, you have to be able to borrow money. And we're gonna put you back in that position. We have to get rid of Dodd-Frank,” he said at the time.
The point of the chart, which Trump has begun implementing over the past two days, was to show homeownership rates at their lowest in years.
“This is a biggie for you,” Trump said, knowing his audience. “So here’s a chart…You don’t need very good eyesight to see what’s going on. So here’s Obama,” Trump said pointing to 2008, “and here’s the end.” Trump’s finger slid down the line that showed when the housing bubble burst. “He’s not finished yet,” Trump told the crowd.
The businessman was comfortable in Thursday morning’s conference setting with the Home Builders Association, noting his own roots in homebuilding and attributing them to his father.
“Home building is very close to my heart,” Trump began, remembering moments he learned from his father about how to build — and how to sell. The real estate mogul-turned politician still quotes from those lessons on the trail, most notably telling crowds that his negotiation style employs “taking the lumps out” when delivering tough news to adversaries.
While that piece of Trump’s background helps him, he acknowledged Thursday that other parts of his past have not. Noting, as he does from time to time, his recent foray into politics Trump marveled that “this was never in the cards for me.” Reflecting on his past and what he might have changed, the man who rarely admits mistake or wrongdoing said if he knew politics was in his future, he “probably would’ve had a little softer path. I would’ve moderated. I wouldn’t have spoken to Howard [Stern] so much and had fun.”
But moderation is not a word associated with Trump, even now that he is a candidate — and the nominee of his party. Doubling down on controversy yet again, Trump told the seated and subdued crowd that President Obama and Hillary Clinton were the “founders of ISIS.”
Clinton, Trump said once again, would get the MVP award from ISIS. “Her only competition is Barack Obama,” he joked.
