In California, Hillary Clinton campaigns against
Donald Trump (not Bernie Sanders)

May 24, 2016, 3:26 p.m.

2:33 P.M. reporting from commerce, Calif. Kate Linthicum



Hillary Clinton is running against Bernie Sanders in California’s June 7 Democratic presidential primary. But you wouldn't know that from her speech at a union hall in a working-class suburb of Los Angeles on Tuesday.

On issues of the economy, foreign policy and gender equality, Clinton’s target was not Sanders but another outsider candidate with populist appeal: Donald Trump, whom she has increasingly focused on since he became the presumptive GOP nominee.

Attacking him as a "loose cannon” who would put the nation’s security and economic future at risk, Clinton suggested she isn’t feeling much threatened by Sanders, who is trailing Clinton badly in delegates but who hopes to make a strong last stand in California.

Clinton portrayed Trump as greedy and out of touch, criticizing the real estate developer for his personal business decisions and his tax plan, which she said would benefit the wealthiest Americans.

“Donald Trump's tax plan was written by a billionaire for a billionaire. as far as I can tell,” Clinton said, drawing boos from union members gathered at the Commerce headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11.

Clinton also slammed Trump for comments he made a few years before the 2008 economic crisis that a housing market crash would be a good thing for him.

"He actually said he was hoping for the crash," Clinton said. "All because he thought he could ... make some money for himself."
Calling into question Trump's self-touted business acumen, Clinton reminded the crowd that several of Trump's casino and hotel businesses have filed for bankruptcy.

“I don't know how you lose money running casinos,” Clinton said, drawing laughter.

Clinton said she was best poised to help the economy. Showing a streak of 1990s nostalgia, she talked up the economic conditions during her husband’s presidency.

“People were working. People were buying homes," she said. "People were saving for college if that's what they wanted to do."

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...htmlstory.html