Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich Details Eight Reasons GOP Must Dump Donald Trump

Robert Reich served as Labor Secretary under former president Bill Clinton but shocked many by endorsing Bernie Sanders in this election cycle. However, there is one thing that Reich and the House of Clinton can agree on in 2016, and that’s the need to “Dump Trump.” The outspoken Democrat released a video with MoveOn.org outlining eight reasons why the GOP needs to dump Donald Trump as their nominee and why the American public must not elect him president.

1. Donald Trump Divides Us By Race, Ethnicity, And Religion

Reich cites several instances of Trump using divisive language, including stating that undocumented workers “bring crime, drugs; they’re rapists.” He also cited Trump’s claims that the Mexican government ships over their worst so they won’t have to “pay for them,” and his campaign promise to send 11 million undocumented residents back to Mexico. Reich also points out Trump’s reluctance to disavow the endorsement of a former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, and his refusal to denounce anti-Semitic remarks by his supporters. The presumptive GOP nominee also wants to ban admitting any Muslims into the country, inaccurately equating them all with extremists.

2. Donald Trump Uses Incendiary Speech To Incite Violence

Reich had sharp words for Trump’s reaction when video showed his supporters kicking, punching, and spitting on protesters, particularly people of color, excusing their behavior as the actions of those who are “very passionate.” When the violence escalated further against a Black Lives Matter protester at a later rally, Trump went beyond excusing the behavior to justifying it when he said, “Maybe he should have been roughed up.”

3. Donald Trump Bullies, Threatens, And Humiliates His Opponents

Trump is notorious for his Twitter wars and verbal abuse launched at anyone who criticizes him or who he perceives as being critical. Aside from the embarrassing hand size debate with Marco Rubio, Reich cited a particular case of a family who had donated to a political opponent, and Trump said they “better be careful, they have a lot to hide.” He also threatened to “expose” some scandal involving former Republican candidate Ted Cruz’s wife, after he thought Cruz’s campaign had posted nude modeling photos of Trump’s wife, Melania.

Most recently, Reich cited the accusations that the judge in the pending Trump University lawsuit can’t possibly do his job without bias because he’s “Mexican,” even though he was born in the United States. In fact, the judge’s parents have been in this country longer than Trump’s parents, who were also immigrants.

4. Donald Trump Spreads Baseless Conspiracy Theories

Trump jumping on the bandwagon with the “birther” conspiracy theorists that claimed President Obama was not born in this country, was only the beginning of a series of wild accusations. Reich also noted that Trump has claimed our government has hidden information about the Ebola virus, promoted the dangerous allegation that child vaccines cause autism, and perhaps the craziest conspiracy theory of them all — that Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald during the Kennedy assassination.

It’s surprising that Trump hasn’t pushed the tongue-in-cheek theory that Cruz is the Zodiac Killer.

5. Donald Trump Displays “Hateful And Demeaning” Attitudes Toward Women

While there are entire media campaigns revolving around piecing together clips of Trump’s worst quotes about women, Reich was concise on this point, citing the one that pretty much sums up his attitude and is probably the worst quote of all.

“Women, you have to treat them like s**t.”

6. Donald Trump Doesn’t Believe In Climate Change

Not only does Trump refuse to acknowledge the science behind climate change, but he’s calling for more fossil fuel drilling and reductions in environmental regulations. Plus, he wants to cancel the Paris agreement designed to hold all countries accountable for reducing environmental damage and reverse Obama’s regulations on reducing emissions. Basically, Trump wants to allow people to drill and pollute at will, according to Reich.

7. Donald Trump Proposes Torture And Punishing Terrorists’ Families

Reich points out that Trump wants to institute not only the torture of prisoners, but the punishment of their families, regardless of their guilt in any terrorist activity, and despite these actions being a direct violation of international law. Trump has notoriously stated that not only would he like to bring back and expand on waterboarding, but go beyond it to more severe forms of torture, embracing that term in all its glory. Reich did not even go into details on the punishment of terrorists’ families, but logic would dictate that unless family members are involved or have previous knowledge of criminal or terrorist activity, such as the wife of the Orlando shooter, it makes no sense to punish family members.

8. Donald Trump Wants To Cut Taxes To The Wealthiest 0.1 Percent

And last, the only candidate who won’t release his tax records wants to give a tax break to the wealthiest 0.1 percent of Americans. While we’ve heard figures and percentages before, Reich breaks down what kind of numbers that translates into for the wealthiest Americans. If Trump put his tax break plan into place, the wealthiest one-tenth of a percent would get to keep $1.3 million of taxes that should be paid every year. Reich says this is an economic disaster in the making and will completely tank the economy, exploding the deficit even further and endangering the future of Social Security and Medicare.

[Photo by J. Emilio Flores/Getty Images]