PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez told PJM that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is “full of something” on the minimum wage.
Trump recently said he would support a $10 minimum wage but the states should “call the shots.”
“Donald Trump said that a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for America. Donald Trump has said 1,000 things about the minimum wage but what he’s most consistently said is a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for America. The guy is full of something and I’ll let you fill in the blank,” Perez said during an interview at the Democratic National Convention.
Perez was asked if Trump’s press conference last month at which he called for the Russians to turn over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s missing emails if they have them distracted from the Democratic Party’s message coming out of the convention.
“There’s nothing that will distract from our message. You know, we are the party of ‘we.’ He is the party of ‘me’ and every press conference he holds, it’s all about him. The challenges confronting America are all about ‘we’ and how we can marshal the collective power of this remarkable democracy to build on the progress of Barack Obama and take it to the next level, understanding that the unfinished business is shared prosperity for everyone,” he said.
“Donald Trump is all about prosperity for himself – me, myself and I – that’s not what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are about. It’s about we the people and that’s why Hillary Clinton is going to win,” he added.
During Trump’s convention address, he criticized “I’m With Her,” which is one of the Clinton campaign’s slogans.
“My opponent asks her supporters to recite a three-word loyalty pledge. It reads: ‘I’m With Her.’ I choose to recite a different pledge,” Trump said in Cleveland.
“My pledge reads: ‘I’m with you, the American people.’ I am your voice.
So to every parent who dreams for their child and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I’m with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you,” he added.
In Philadelphia, Clinton accused Trump of “forgetting every last one of us,” referring to his comment that he alone can fix the “rigged” political system in America.
“I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it,” he said. “I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders – he never had a chance.”
Clinton criticized Trump’s statement in her nomination speech.
“Americans don’t say: ‘I alone can fix it.’ We say: ‘We’ll fix it together,’” she said.
Perez, who was on Clinton’s shortlist of potential vice presidential picks, praised her decision to choose Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
“I think he’s fantastic. I’ve known Tim for quite a while. We’re both civil-rights lawyers. He did fair-housing work. Anyone who does fair-housing work on behalf of vulnerable residents has a very deep spot in my heart,” Perez said.
“His whole life of service has been about making sure people who are in the shadows can move into the sunshine, just like Hillary Clinton.”
The Labor secretary added, “That’s why I’m so thrilled to get out there on their behalf because I think they are the ideal contrast, two workhorses who are all about moving the ball down the field for the middle class against a show horse who is about nothing but himself.”
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