How Elizabeth Warren attacked Donald Trump at Hillary Clinton rally in Cincinnati
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Donald Trump is "a small, insecure money-grubber who fights for nobody but himself," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Monday morning at the Cincinnati's Union Terminal, as the possible vice presidential candidate lit up the crowd in her first appearance with Hillary Clinton.
"What kind of a man?" Warren said of the presumptive GOP nominee, with whom she has had drawn out Twitter battles. "A nasty man who will never become president of the United States, because Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States."
Warren lobbed attacks at Trump as she stood below the terminal lobby's large mosaic of of iron-workers, railroad men and farmers. Clinton stood beside her, grinning and clapping.
The joint appearance, and Warren's enthusiasm for attacking Trump, added to speculation about her likelihood of receiving the nod to join Clinton as the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket. Clinton and her supporters have touted Warren's endorsement as the former first lady seeks to unite Democrats after a long primary battle with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Warren, a well-known progressive, is popular with many of the voters who backed Sanders.
At Union Terminal, Warren punctuated her criticisms of Trump and praise of Clinton by raising her fist and shouting "Yes!" Drawing applause and supportive laughter, Warren turned and clapped wildly for Clinton, then joined the crowd in shouts of “Hillary! Hillary!” and a "Woo!"
“Donald Trump thinks poor, sad little Wall Street bankers need to be free to defraud anyone they want," said Warren, known for her anti-Wall Street stances. "Hillary fights for us.”
“You know I could do this all day. I really could," Warren said of attacking Trump. "But I won’t. OK, one more.”
“You just saw why she is considered so terrific, so formidable, because she tells it like it is," Clinton said of Warren. "I do just love to see how she gets under Donald Trump’s thin skin."
Later, Clinton listed progressive priorities championed by Warren and Sanders: more American manufacturing, fighting climate change through development of renewable energy, increasing the minimum wage, equal pay for women. And, she said, referencing taxes: "we’re going to finally make Wall Street, big corporations and the super-wealthy do more."
Warren on Monday hearkened to her and Clinton's humble roots, contrasting the duo with Trump and "rich guys just like him."
“I’m a daughter of a maintenance man who made it all the way to the United States Senate, and Hillary Clinton is the granddaughter of a factory worker who’s going to make it all the way to the White House," she said.
But Warren doesn't bring any demographic or generational diversity to the ticket, comes from a solidly Democratic state in presidential elections and would be replaced in the Senate by a Republican appointee. Even though the two women clearly enjoyed the joint campaign stop Monday, they haven't been close over the years. Reports say the vice presidential chances of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia have risen in recent days.
Republicans say they're ready to attack whomever Clinton chooses, with the hopes of taking voters from Clinton by making them disillusioned with the vice presidential pick. Choosing Warren could alienate men or working-class voters, the Republican National Committee said, in a memo first released to the Huffington Post.
"Selecting Warren would also define the Clinton candidacy as an extreme lurch left, even from the Obama administration," the memo said.
Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges dismissed the joint appearance as an example of Clinton's pandering to sway Sanders supporters.
"A Clinton-Warren ticket reeks of complete insincerity," he said in an emailed statement. "I laughed out loud when Elizabeth Warren said she is supporting Hillary Clinton because 'she has a good heart.' Hillary Clinton stands for everything that Elizabeth Warren claims to be against."
Donald Trump is coming back to Ohio – finally
Clinton chose for her first public campaign stop in Southwest Ohio the Cincinnati Museum Center's Union Terminal – a presidential campaign stop since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It reached capacity at 10:15 a.m. with an estimated 2,600 people crowding into the terminal's lobby. in the muggy heat. As many as 500 people listened to the speeches outside in muggy heat. Fire officials circulated in the crowd, handing out cold cloths that many people put around their necks.
"They looked great on stage together, " said Reginald Harris, 34, of Northside, after the rally. "Elizabeth Warren would be a good (vice presidential) pick, though we don't want her to leave the Senate. She was really trying to win over Bernie (Sanders) supporters. She reminded us Hillary has been a progressive her whole life."
Sanders has yet to suspend his campaign and says Clinton still hasn't said the right things to earn his populist endorsement. But he said on Friday he would vote for Clinton over Trump in November.
Doris Allen, 68, of Walnut Hills, came to the Union Terminal rally carrying a 2008 Vogue magazine signed by Clinton and a Barbie bearing Clinton’s likeness, complete with her own mini sign.
“I’m happy to be in the glow of these two women,” Allen said of Clinton and Warren. “They’re the future.”
Around a dozen protesters stood outside the event early Monday morning, holding signs that said: "Hillary 2016 for prison" and "Hillary world-class liar." One man was wearing a Trump t-shirt and waving an American flag.
Rick Andres, 64, of Cleves, stood at the Museum Center entrance with two friends, all carrying signs saying: “The silent majority stands with Trump.”
“Most were afraid to come out because of what has happened in other cities – they’ve had eggs thrown at them, been beaten up,” he said. “Not me, I want to make my voice heard.”
In Cincinnati, the Clinton protesters suffered only honks from passing cars.
Clinton had been in town since Sunday, when she attended a fundraiser at Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley's home that raked in at least $450,000. Presumptive Republican nominee Trump hasn't visited Ohio since the March primary, while Clinton has visited four times and stopped in Northern Kentucky as well.
Yet shortly after Clinton's rally in Cincinnati, Trump's campaign announced he would visit Ohio at least twice in the next nine days. He'll hold a Tuesday rally in St. Clairsville, a small town in Appalachian Ohio, where Republican voters broke with the largest share of Buckeyes to back the businessman over then-opponent Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Next week, on July 6, he'll visit Cincinnati for a fundraiser, where participation in a roundtable discussion with Trump will cost $25,000 per person.