Donald Trump Flip Flops On Wages After Bernie Sanders Attack
Donald Trump changed his opinion on wages this morning when he tweeted that he believes wages are too low. In the Republican debate on November 10, in response to a question about his position on raising the minimum wage, he stated that he felt wages were “too high.”
“We are a country that is being beaten on every front — economically, militarily. Taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world… People have to go out, they have to work really hard, and they have to get into that upper stratum.”
When asked to clarify his position on MSNBC’s Morning Joe the following morning, he restated the same thing.
“It’s a tough position politically. We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high — our wages are too high. Everything is too high. We have to compete with other countries.”
In his recent tweet, Donald Trump also indicated that we don’t have enough jobs in the U.S. and that Americans have lost faith in their leaders.
Wages in are country are too low, good jobs are too few, and people have lost faith in our leaders.We need smart and strong leadership now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2015
The apparent shift in Donald Trump’s position came after a Face the Nation interview with Bernie Sanders on Sunday. In that interview, Sanders stated that he believes he can win votes of some Trump supporters because they are “working-class people” who are “angry.”
“Look, many of Trump’s supporters are a working-class people, and they’re angry. And they’re angry because they’re working longer hours for lower wages. They’re angry because their jobs have left this country and gone to China or other low-wage countries… In fact, he has said that he thinks wages in America are too high.”
Hillary Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but HE'S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2015
Sanders referred to Donald Trump as “vulgar” for those comments and said that “we’re going to let my wife Jane out, and I think Hillary’s going to be in real, real trouble.”
Donald Trump tweeted directly to Sanders on Sunday afternoon.
.@BernieSanders-who blew his campaign when he gave Hillary a pass on her e-mail crime, said that I feel wages in America are too high. Lie!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2015
Bernie Sanders responded, stating that he believes Trump is getting nervous because working families are figuring out that his policies will hurt them and benefit the rich. He acknowledged working class anger over jobs going overseas and low wages here that keep them from doing things like sending their children to college. He also stated, as he has done previously, that Donald Trump is playing on these economic fears by promoting hatred of Mexicans and Muslims. Sanders’ platform encourages bringing together American citizens to push Congress to pass laws that address income inequality.
Rolling Stone recently cited the latest Quinnipiac University poll that indicates Bernie Sanders would soundly beat Donald Trump if the two went face-to-face in the general election. The poll shows Sanders receiving 34 percent more votes than Trump. Among the field of Republican candidates, the Quinnipiac poll shows Trump still leading the pack with 28 percent support. His closest competitor is Ted Cruz at 24 percent followed by Marco Rubio at 14 percent. When asked who they would vote for if Sanders were running against Cruz or Rubio, the results were pretty evenly split.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
