DETROIT – Hillary Clinton railed against Donald Trump on everything from wages and immigration to paid family leave and his business dealings in a wide-ranging speech to union members here Monday.
“He could bankrupt America like he’s bankrupted his companies,” Clinton warned during remarks at the Service Employees International Union’s annual convention. “Ask yourself: how could anybody lose money running a casino? Really.”
Clinton, in the best preview yet of her campaign’s general election strategy, also unleashed on the presumptive Republican nominee for his charged rhetoric.
“We need a president who will use the bully pulpit to stand up for working families. But the last thing we need is a bully in the pulpit,” Clinton said to big applause.
Clinton frequently slams Trump on his immigration proposals and repeated much of her line of attack against him on Monday.
“What kind of country would we be if we let Donald Trump rip our families apart? We have to reject this wrong vision for America with a strong, clear voice,” Clinton told the labor group, which endorsed her last year.
Clinton said that Trump’s plan to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants would not only affect union families, but also the many Latinos she’s met across the country who are concerned about what a Trump presidency could mean for them.
She specifically mentioned her meeting with a young Latina girl named Karla Ortiz, whose parents are at risk for deportation. In February, Ortiz tearfully told Clinton about her situation. Clinton promised to do everything she could to protect the girl’s parents and told her: “Let me do the worrying.”
The Clinton campaign turned the poignant moment into an ad ahead of the Nevada caucuses.
If elected, the former secretary of state has promised to build on President Obama’s executive actions and introduce comprehensive immigration reform during her first 100 days in office.
On Monday, Clinton also hit Trump for saying wages are “too high” in America. If he traveled the country talking to voters the way she did, Clinton argued, “maybe he would finally open his ears and listen to what working people everywhere are saying, that America needs a raise.”
After calling Trump out on several other issues, including paid family leave, Clinton emphasized the need for unity in her own party.
As she continues to battle Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in upcoming primary states like California and New Jersey, she made her ultimate objective clear: “We are going to unify the Democratic Party and stop Donald Trump!”
