43
Biden makes time for Valley, case for Clinton
RELATED: Fairgoers go to great lengths for chance to see vice president
By DAVID SKOLNICK
skolnick@vindy.com
LORDSTOWN
Video
VP Joe Biden in the Mahoning Valley
Gallery
VP Biden at the Canfield Fair
Gallery
VP Joe Biden at UAW 1714
Gallery
VP Joe Biden and THE Fair 2016
Gallery
The more people find out about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the less likely voters, including those in the Mahoning Valley, will support him, Vice President Joe Biden told The Vindicator in an exclusive interview.
During Thursday’s interview at the United Auto Workers Local 1714 union hall, Biden was asked about Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after he spoke to about 200 people at the hall on behalf of Clinton.
“People are beginning to know who Donald Trump is,” Biden, a Democrat, told The Vindicator. “That’s why in the state of Ohio he has a 36 percent favorable rating.”
When a reporter pointed out that Clinton’s rating isn’t much better, he said, “Your point you’re trying to make, being confrontational, which you should be, is somehow there’s real support for [Trump]; there’s an energy behind him. And my point is, there’s no energy.
“The more people figure out what he is actually for, the less likely they’re going to vote for him.”
As far as trade policies – including the North American Free Trade Agreement and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latter backed by President Barack Obama – Biden laughed at Trump’s contention that he opposes both.
“Take a look at what Trump has done,” Biden said. “He talks about trade, yet he manufactures overseas.”
He added, “C’mon, give me a break, man. This is so much malarkey on the part of Trump. How much traction is Trump going to get with his position. Do you think he really means it?”
The vice president, who has a long history of supporting organized labor, added: “Everything to him is sort of like a game show. I mean, from his foreign policy to his domestic policy. You scratch the surface a little bit” and there’s nothing there, including his trade policy.”
Clinton has sent mixed messages on trade in the past. But Biden said she is trustworthy, unlike Trump, with her opposition to free trade.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Thursday that he trusts Clinton to keep her word on free trade.
“She’s made her statements [in opposition], and the president of the AFL-CIO says, ‘I trust her. I trust her position,’” Biden said.
Trump did well in the Mahoning Valley during the March Republican primary. While he lost the state to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Trump had big wins in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
When asked why Trump did so well in the Valley, Biden said, “He had no opposition.” It was pointed out that Kasich beat him.
“The answer is I, I, I have no idea,” but Trump will struggle in the general election, Biden said.
“I think all we have to do is ask a simple question: Do you honestly think Donald Trump is going to do anything to make sure your wages are increased?” Biden said. “A guy who says American workers make too much money. Do you honestly think Donald Trump is going to do anything to support your circumstance and education?”
Biden was quick to say “no” when asked if he regretted not running for president.
“I made the right decision for my family,” he said. “I am working like hell in support of Hillary Clinton.”
Biden said he would enjoy debating Trump, but added even that doesn’t make him regret his decision.
Asked if Clinton will do well in a debate with Trump, Biden said, “What every candidate does in a presidential race is they try to dumb down expectations, but I feel confident that Hillary will hold her own.”
Biden spent nearly seven hours in the Valley Thursday. He started with the rally, went to the Canfield Fair and finished with a walking tour of two neighborhoods on Youngstown’s South Side.
“Joe Biden is one of us,” said Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, who spent close to an hour with Biden at the fair. “You can take him anywhere in the Valley and he would fit like a glove. It’s eerie how much he relates to us.”
Biden spent about 35 minutes walking Lanterman Avenue between Rogers Road and Billingsgate Avenue in the Idora Neighborhood, and talking to residents. He took so long talking to residents at four houses that the rest of the walk was cut short.
The neighborhood has been developed by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., created with federal money, and support from the federal Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative to help the city.
He was joined on the walk by YNDC Executive Director Ian Beniston and ex-Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, who now heads the U.S. Economic Development Administration in Washington, D.C.
“There is no better way to come home than to have the vice president come and see the Mahoning Valley,” Williams said. “It was exciting to me to tour the Youngstown neighborhoods to see the work being done there. [Biden] understands what is happening here.”
During the rally at the UAW hall, Biden said: “I know some of you are mad at Hillary.” He added: “But let me tell you something: She gets it, and never yields. She does not break, and she stands up.”
Trump, he said, was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and now he’s choking on it because his foot is in his mouth.”
After spending much of the day in the Valley, Biden had a rally at a UAW hall in Parma, near Cleveland.
In response to Biden stumping for Clinton, Bob Paduchik, Trump’s Ohio state director, said, “Hillary Clinton is running scared” and she sent “Biden on a union hall tour through the Mahoning Valley and Cleveland trying to convince skeptical union members to buy into a third term of the Obama-Clinton failed economic policies. But it won’t work.”