Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed Donald Trump’s “dangerous and divisive vision” Monday at a news conference in Cleveland less than a mile from Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the Republican National Convention this week.
“If elected, Donald Trump would severely damage our economy, diminish our standing in the world and make our communities less safe,” she said at the Hillary for America news conference, the first in a series of events this week aimed at “[making] sure Americans understand the real Donald Trump.”
“He is divisive, dangerous and lacks the judgment and temperament to be president,” she added.
Wasserman Schultz said there’s “an unprecedented amount of Republicans who have decided they don’t want to be anywhere near this convention, and for good reason.”
Notably absent are presidents George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, to name a few.
The DNC chair criticized Trump’s “dangerous” foreign policy, which she said is constructed “based on admiration for foreign dictators” like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. She also took aim at Trump’s “un-American” proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.
“Americans deserve better than a reckless president who would ban an entire religion from entering our country,” she said.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and former Democratic Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland also spoke briefly at the news conference.
Gallego said Trump “treats our enemies like allies and our allies like enemies.”
Strickland echoed Wasserman Schultz’s message that Trump would make “a dangerous and divisive commander-in-chief,” adding that Republicans “are putting country over party.”
