SitemapThe more people find out about Republican
presidential nominee Donald Trump, the less likely voters, including those in
the Mahoning Valley, will support him, Vice President Joe Biden told The
Vindicator in an exclusive interview.
During Thursday’s interview at the United Auto
Workers Local 1714 union hall, Biden was asked about Trump and Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after he spoke to about 200 people at the
hall on behalf of Clinton.
“People are beginning to know who Donald Trump
is,” Biden, a Democrat, told The Vindicator. “That’s why in the state of Ohio
he has a 36 percent favorable rating.”
When a reporter pointed out that Clinton’s rating
isn’t much better, he said, “Your point you’re trying to make, being
confrontational, which you should be, is somehow there’s real support for
[Trump]; there’s an energy behind him. And my point is, there’s no energy.
“The more people figure out what he is actually
for, the less likely they’re going to vote for him.”
As far as trade policies – including the North
American Free Trade Agreement and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, the
latter backed by President Barack Obama – Biden laughed at Trump’s contention
that he opposes both.
“Take a look at what Trump has done,” Biden said.
“He talks about trade, yet he manufactures overseas.”
He added, “C’mon, give me a break, man. This is so
much malarkey on the part of Trump. How much traction is Trump going to get
with his position. Do you think he really means it?”
The vice president, who has a long history of
supporting organized labor, added: “Everything to him is sort of like a game
show. I mean, from his foreign policy to his domestic policy. You scratch the
surface a little bit” and there’s nothing there, including his trade policy.”
Clinton has sent mixed messages on trade in the
past. But Biden said she is trustworthy, unlike Trump, with her opposition to
free trade.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Thursday
that he trusts Clinton to keep her word on free trade.
“She’s made her statements [in opposition], and
the president of the AFL-CIO says, ‘I trust her. I trust her position,’” Biden
said.
Trump did well in the Mahoning Valley during the
March Republican primary. While he lost the state to Ohio Gov. John Kasich,
Trump had big wins in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
When asked why Trump did so well in the Valley,
Biden said, “He had no opposition.” It was pointed out that Kasich beat him.
“The answer is I, I, I have no idea,” but Trump
will struggle in the general election, Biden said.
“I think all we have to do is ask a simple
question: Do you honestly think Donald Trump is going to do anything to make
sure your wages are increased?” Biden said. “A guy who says American workers
make too much money. Do you honestly think Donald Trump is going to do anything
to support your circumstance and education?”
Biden was quick to say “no” when asked if he
regretted not running for president.
“I made the right decision for my family,” he
said. “I am working like hell in support of Hillary Clinton.”
Biden said he would enjoy debating Trump, but
added even that doesn’t make him regret his decision.
Asked if Clinton will do well in a debate with
Trump, Biden said, “What every candidate does in a presidential race is they
try to dumb down expectations, but I feel confident that Hillary will hold her
own.”
Biden spent nearly seven hours in the Valley Thursday.
He started with the rally, went to the Canfield Fair and finished with a
walking tour of two neighborhoods on Youngstown’s South Side.
“Joe Biden is one of us,” said Mahoning County
Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, who spent close to an hour with Biden
at the fair. “You can take him anywhere in the Valley and he would fit like a
glove. It’s eerie how much he relates to us.”
Biden spent about 35 minutes walking Lanterman
Avenue between Rogers Road and Billingsgate Avenue in the Idora Neighborhood,
and talking to residents. He took so long talking to residents at four houses
that the rest of the walk was cut short.
The neighborhood has been developed by the
Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., created with federal money, and
support from the federal Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative to help
the city.
He was joined on the walk by YNDC Executive
Director Ian Beniston and ex-Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, who now heads the
U.S. Economic Development Administration in Washington, D.C.
“There is no better way to come home than to have
the vice president come and see the Mahoning Valley,” Williams said. “It was
exciting to me to tour the Youngstown neighborhoods to see the work being done
there. [Biden] understands what is happening here.”
During the rally at the UAW hall, Biden said: “I
know some of you are mad at Hillary.” He added: “But let me tell you something:
She gets it, and never yields. She does not break, and she stands up.”
Trump, he said, was “born with a silver spoon in
his mouth, and now he’s choking on it because his foot is in his mouth.”
After spending much of the day in the Valley,
Biden had a rally at a UAW hall in Parma, near Cleveland.
In response to Biden stumping for Clinton, Bob
Paduchik, Trump’s Ohio state director, said, “Hillary Clinton is running
scared” and she sent “Biden on a union hall tour through the Mahoning Valley
and Cleveland trying to convince skeptical union members to buy into a third
term of the Obama-Clinton failed economic policies. But it won’t work.”
To read the full story from the Vindicator, click
here.