Clinton takes on Trump in A.C.
ATLANTIC CITY - Hillary Clinton wanted Missouri and Pacific Avenues, in front of the blank white tower of the now-shuttered Trump Plaza, where you can still make out the impressions left by the letters T-R-U-M-P.
ATLANTIC CITY - Hillary Clinton wanted Missouri and Pacific Avenues, in front of the blank white tower of the now-shuttered Trump Plaza, where you can still make out the impressions left by the letters T-R-U-M-P.
But in a town where casinos still hold sway, despite four closing in 2014, that idea was nixed because it would have cut off traffic and business into neighboring Caesars.
Instead, Clinton settled in to take aim at her rival on the Boardwalk that helped build his brand, her podium set up on a diagonal so that another Trump remnant, a rubbed-out "TRUMP PLAZA," where lit-up marquee letters had been, was visible behind her.
Donald Trump himself had sued to get his name removed in 2014 while the Plaza was in its death throes.
"This city has its share of big names on big buildings," Clinton said, turning to look at the marquee, before a cheering crowd of several hundred.
She was introduced by Marty Rosenberg, owner of Atlantic Plate & Window Glass, who spoke of losing $500,000 when he said Trump did not pay his family business in full for services at the Trump Taj Mahal. "Hillary! Hillary!" Rosenberg shouted. He said he and other business owners suffered financially and emotionally from dealing with Trump.
Clinton picked up that theme immediately. She hit Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee but "Mr. Trump" to many in this town who worked for him, for his history of "multiple bankruptcies, stiffed contractors, and hundreds of jobs lost," as the campaign summarized his record in Atlantic City.
"What he did for his workers and businesses is nothing to brag about," she said. "He got rich and got out, and he thinks that's something to be proud of."
Clinton cited "painters, waiters, plumbers - people who needed the money they earned and didn't get it, not because Donald Trump couldn't pay, but because he wouldn't pay.
"It's not ancient history," she said. "If he's elected president, it's our future."
Taking a page out of the playbook of Bernie Sanders, who railed against Trump at Boardwalk Hall in May, she assailed both Trump and billionaire Carl Icahn, whom she referred to as his potential Treasury secretary, and the current owner of the Trump Taj Mahal. "It's the same scam over and over again," Clinton said.
She also took aim at Gov. Christie, in Italy apparently attending a Springsteen concert:
"If your governor would start doing his job instead of following Donald Trump around holding his coat, maybe we could really get New Jersey's economy moving again," she said.
After the speech, Clinton took a trip in her motorcade down Pacific Avenue to briefly greet noisy striking Taj Mahal workers, whose union, Unite HERE Local 54, endorsed Sanders during the primary.
She ignored a shouted question from the press about the FBI report on her private email server.
In Atlantic City, Clinton was speaking to people who have met Trump, some of whom said they liked working for him but would not vote for him.
"When I worked for Trump, he was a great guy," said Sandy Nourgas, 49, of Egg Harbor Township, who was a baccarat dealer at the Taj Mahal for 25 years. "What's coming out of his mouth now is despicable."
If Clinton's goal was to distract the narrative from the FBI conclusions about her email server, Trump took the bait.
After tweeting about his record in Atlantic City - "I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and left 7 years ago, great timing (as all know)" - and blaming "Democratic pols in Atlantic City" for the city's woes, his campaign also released a statement defending his use of the bankruptcy code as "an effective and commonly used practice in business."
"Nobody understands the economy like I do and no one, especially not Crooked Hillary Clinton, will do more for the economy than I will," Trump was quoted in the statement. ". . . I created thousands of jobs and made a lot of money in Atlantic City, which was what, as a businessman, I am supposed to do for my company and my family - and as President I will make America rich again, and Make America Great Again."
At the Trump Taj Mahal, striking cook David Nunez stood on Pacific Avenue. "The people that built these elephants never got paid," he said, speaking of the marble supplier. He said he appreciated Clinton's support of the strikers, though he also said he did not mind Trump when he worked for him.
"It's awesome," he said, as strikers shouted at people not to cross their line and enter the property. "She's putting us on the map a little bit."
Of Trump, he said: "He was OK as a boss. Everyone was happy then."
Clinton got heckled once during her speech after saying, "Of course he'd be for protecting a system where the rich and powerful stick it to everybody else. He got rich playing by those rules -" and someone interrupted - "So did you!"
Clinton also brought up widow Vera Coking, whose house Trump tried to take in eminent domain; the sale at a loss of Trump Marina; and the bankruptcy of Trump Taj Mahal. She blamed the closure of Trump Plaza on the legacy of bad Trump management, though Trump had divested himself of his share of the company when it closed.
Prior to the appearance, Clinton launched a petition in support of the 1,000 striking workers at the Trump Taj Mahal. The workers are members of Unite HERE Local 54 casino workers union, cooks, housekeepers, and porters.
Maryanne Preztumik, 59, said she gave up a beach day in Bradley Beach to support Clinton. "I'm a huge supporter of Hillary, since 2008," she said. "I'm thrilled because she's in New Jersey, and it's absolutely correct to be in Atlantic City because it highlights the problem: Donald Trump is not a leader. Donald Trump is a brand."
She pointed to the rubbed-out Trump Plaza and said, "This is an example of the failed brand."
Boardwalk Hall was also the place Lyndon Johnson accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 1964, to run against Barry Goldwater. Then, as now, attention drifted to the state of Atlantic City itself; then, as now, that condition could have been better.
On Texas Avenue, a hardscrabble beach block that was one of the entrances to the event, Khalina Robinson, 38, said: "I love Hillary." She said she would vote for her, but, "not until I find out what's up with those emails."
609-823-0453 @amysrosenberg