On her busy birthday, Hillary shuttled to Tampa to continue her stump
through Florida. Angela Bassett participated, and Hillary was introduced
by chef José Andrés who would have been with Trump officially opening
his D.C. hotel. Andrés pulled out of locating his restaurant under
Trump's umbrella, and chose to stand with Hillary at the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park event instead.
Today
at a packed rally in Tampa on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton shared her
vision for creating an economy that works for everyone, not just those
at the top. Clinton was joined by acclaimed chef José Andres who shared
his experience as an immigrant who will proudly vote for the first time
this year, casting his ballot for Hillary Clinton.
Andres elected
to campaign with Hillary Clinton in Florida, while Donald Trump was
promoting the opening of his hotel - the 32nd public campaign event he
has hosted at one of his own properties. The chef was originally part of
the Trump hotel project until Trump’s offensive comments calling
Mexican immigrants “rapists” and criminals compelled Andres to pull out
of his planned restaurant and refuse to invest in the Trump business.
From
his using his presidential campaign to promote his business, to a
decades-long practice of stiffing small businesses, to outsourcing jobs,
to his proposal to cut taxes for billionaires like himself at the
expense of everyone else, Trump’s self-serving agenda is clear. He built
a career on stiffing small business owners, bankrupting casinos,
avoiding taxes and leaving workers hanging. And on the campaign trail,
he has proposed a trickle down economic plan that would help
billionaires like himself at the expense of working families. It is
clear that Trump, as president, would put his own interests before those
of the American people.
In Tampa, Clinton promoted a very
different message: We need an economy that works for everyone,
comprehensive immigration reform, debt-free college and a higher minimum
wage. “We need to build a stronger and fairer America,” Clinton said.
Clinton
also asked supporters to elect Democrats up and down the ballot,
including Patrick Murphy for U.S. Senate. She touted the 2 million
Floridians who have already cast their ballots and encouraged supporters
to head to straight to the polls and vote early. Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“[…]
my birthday being here in Tampa! I am so, so grateful to José for that
wonderful introduction. He’s an incredibly talented chef, but more than
that, I have to say he’s a humanitarian. He just came back from Haiti,
once again, where he goes periodically to help feed people. He’s been
doing it ever since the terrible earthquake, going to help people in
remote villages – and he does that all over the world when it comes to
making sure that there are clean cookstoves so that people can cook,
primarily women and children, without fear of getting sick from inhaling
all the smoke. I enlisted José’s help when I was Secretary of State on
the clean cookstoves initiative. And as you heard, he’s also a proud
immigrant and – he is standing up to Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant
rhetoric, and he’s doing it in a very courageous way because he
sacrificed his business. He’d been asked by the Trump Organization to
put a restaurant into the new hotel that Trump was talking about on TV
today, in Washington, and after José heard the kinds of things that
Donald Trump was saying about immigrants, he said, ‘No, I refuse to open
a restaurant in that hotel.’ That is really gutsy.
And today was a
perfect time to have José be with us because, as I said, Donald Trump
is taking time off the campaign trail to officially open the hotel. And
yesterday, here in Florida, he took time out to invite the press to
listen to his employees talk about what a great boss he is while he was
watching and listening to them. And today, in opening that hotel, I
think it’s important to note that he once again relief on undocumented
workers. The same people he has been insulting and demonizing throughout
this campaign. So, like with so much else that Donald Trump says, he
says one thing and then he does something different. Many of the
products in the hotel were made overseas rather than here in the United
States, and he even sued the District of Columbia to pay lower taxes.
That is the way that he does business.
Now, we’ve actually learned
in this campaign that Donald Trump is the poster boy for everything
wrong with our economy. He refuses to pay workers and contractors from
Atlantic City to Miami to Las Vegas. He stiffs small businesses. I take
that one personally because my dad was a small businessman. And I’ve met
so many people who did projects for Donald Trump – provided pianos for
one of his casinos, installed drapes for one of his hotels, laid the
marble, put in the glass, washed the dishes, painted – and then weren’t
paid. I just think that is fundamentally wrong and that is not the kind
of experience we need in the Oval Office.
So I’m grateful to José
and I want to thank everyone else – my great friend, your United States
Senator Bill Nelson. Congresswoman Kathy Castor. Mayor Bob Buckhorn,
who’s here with his two daughters. Governor Charlie Crist, soon to be
Congressman Charlie Crist. I have to say, we’ve got two great candidates
here: David Singer, candidate for the House of Representatives; and
Rena Frazier, another candidate. And we have the great talent of Angela
Bassett with us today.
So, my friends, here’s the advice that I
got. It is a beautiful day in Tampa, but it’s warm. And some of you have
been here a while, right? And I’m watching the flags. So long as
they’re waving, I know there’s a breeze. If they stop waving, I’m really
going to cut this short.
But let me start by thanking you –
thanking you for being here. [Chants of “Hillary!”] Thank you. Thank
you. Well, I’ll tell you, if I ever need a pickup, I’m coming back to
Tampa, Mayor. And with 13 days left in this election, we cannot stop for
a minute. No complacency here. Nobody flagging. We’ve got to get
everybody out to vote. And I hope in addition to the people that I’ve
mentioned, someone who’s not here I hope you will support – that is
Congressman Patrick Murphy, to send him to the United States Senate. I
think you’ll be pleased because he’s an independent voice. He’s a
problem-solver. He believes in comprehensive immigration reform. He has
stood with Planned Parenthood against the attacks that it has suffered.
He has even brought Democrats and Republicans together to try to protect
our environment and fund Everglades restoration. He’ll stand up to the
gun lobby and advocate for commonsense gun safety measures. He’ll defend
Social Security and Medicare, not cutting or privatizing those two
essential programs. So please, do your best to make sure we send Patrick
Murphy to the Senate.
Now, I got to ask you, anybody see the last
debate? You know, I have now stood next to Donald Trump for four and a
half hours, proving conclusively I have the stamina to do the job. And
every time he says one of those outrageous things that he does have a –
yeah, ‘Wrong’ – he does have a way of saying, I just keep remembering
Michelle Obama’s words: when he goes low, we go high.
But I got to
say, he said something in the last debate we’ve never heard from
anybody running for president. He basically said that he’s not sure – he
refused to say that he would respect the results of the election. Now,
this is a guy who said the Emmys were rigged, so you can’t really take
what he says very seriously. But this is a problem because the first
thing a president does at noon on January 20th is to take an oath to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And if you are casting
doubts, you want to keep people in suspense as to whether you will
respect the outcome of an election, that is contrary to who we are as
Americans. We have our elections; we’ve had them from George Washington
forward. We’re going to keep having them and show what a democracy looks
like to the rest of the world.
I believe strongly that the
American people are going to reject this dark, divisive vision of
America, and it’s happening, my friends. We have reached a milestone.
More than 200 million Americans are registered to vote. That’s the
biggest number ever. And that number includes 50 million young people.
And you know what else? More than 10 million people have already voted,
including 2 million right here in Florida. I’m hearing some great
stories from people. Let me just tell you one. It’s about Steven, from
St. Augustine. He’s been fighting a rare form of leukemia and heart
disease. He’s been in and out of the hospitals a dozen times in the last
two years. But he knows how important his vote is. So I heard yesterday
he ditched his oxygen tank, which I would not have recommended – clung
to his walker, stood in line so he could cast his vote for a better
America. And if Steven can do that, nobody has any excuses. And I think
this extends not just to Democrats but to Republicans and independents,
and I am proud to have support from Republicans and independents here,
across Florida, and across America who agree with me that we should
reject hate and division.
We have seen Donald Trump insult nearly
every person in America, and I just find that so intolerable. Because
look at this diverse crowd; look at Tampa. It’s a cosmopolitan city.
Florida is paving the way for what our country will look like, and we
need to be lifting each other up, listening to each other, respecting
each other, not sowing seeds of hatred and bigotry. And I think one of
my biggest jobs after this election will be bringing our country
together, and I’m going to need your help.
We’re going to get the
economy working for everybody, not just people at the top, with new jobs
in infrastructure. That rail system, Bob, that you want, we’re going to
get it because it would help you so much. Think of the people we’d put
to work – technology, innovation, research, advanced manufacturing, and
yes, small business. I want to be the best small business president you
can have, to help people start and grow their businesses. But we’re also
going to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century. I
know we can create millions of jobs, and we can protect Florida,
especially coastal Florida, and we can protect our planet at the same
time. You’re already seeing the results of climate change here in
Florida. I was just in Miami, and they actually have flooding on sunny
days with no rain. People are calling 3-1-1 because they think a water
main broke, but it’s the oceans rising. So I know there is no state that
could benefit more from a clean energy agenda than Florida, and that’s
exactly what we’re going to do.
We’re also going to make public
colleges and universities tuition-free. If your family makes less than
$125,000, which is most families in America, you’re not going to have to
pay a penny to go to a public college or university. If your family
makes more than that, you’re not going to have to go into debt – pay
what you can afford, and then we’re going to make sure you can go
without getting a big debt, because that drags people down. And for
people who already have debt, we are going to help you refinance it and
pay it off.
And I want to say something to all of the teachers and
educators. I want to work with you and be a good partner with you. And I
think there should be more than one way, more than just a four-year
college degree, to get a good job with a good middle-class life for you
and your families. So let’s invest in more technical education in high
school, in our community colleges. Let’s have more apprenticeship
programs – labor and business together.
But while we grow the
economy, let’s make it fairer. We need to raise the national minimum
wage so that people who work full-time aren’t left in poverty. I got to
tell you, I was raised to believe in hard work. My grandfather was a
factory worker, my dad had a small business, and we really believed
you’ve got to work for what you get in life, right? But if you’re
working, you shouldn’t be at the point where you cannot even afford food
or clothes or rent at the end of the year.
And isn’t it finally
time to guarantee equal pay for women’s work? You know, this is not just
a women’s issue. This is a family issue. If you’ve got a mother, a
wife, a sister, or a daughter working, it’s your issue. And unlike my
opponent, we’re going to ask the wealthy, the millionaires and
billionaires, to pay their fair share, because we’re going to close the
loopholes and make sure no multimillionaire ever pays a lower tax rate
than a nurse or a teacher or a police officer or a firefighter. And I
will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.
So
when you go to the polls, vote to grow the economy, more jobs with
rising incomes, vote to make the economy fairer. And compare that with
what my opponent has proposed. He really believes if you give trillions –
that’s trillions with a ‘t’ – trillions in tax cuts to the wealthy,
millionaires, billionaires, big corporations, everything will trickle
down. Now, we know that doesn’t work; we’ve seen it. And it’s pretty
rich coming from a guy who claims to be so rich, who hasn’t paid a dime
in federal income taxes in 20 years. He says not making taxes makes him
smart. Well, I don’t know. I don’t know how smart you have to be to lose
a billion dollars in one year. And besides, what kind of genius loses
money running a casino, for heaven’s sakes?
Actually, it sounds
like a few people have been at casinos here. But this means he’s
contributed zero, okay? He actually has the gall to call our military a
disaster. Not only is he wrong, but what right does he have to say that?
He hasn’t contributed a penny to our military, not a penny to our
veterans, not a penny to health care or education, not a penny to
highways or infrastructure. This is a false – false – charge that he
makes about all the problems in our country.
And I’ll tell you
something; we did a little research. He’s been denigrating America for
decades. This didn’t start with his birther lie against President Obama.
It didn’t even start running against me. Back in 1987, he took out a
$100,000 ad in The New York Times criticizing President Reagan. He said
our leaders were the laughing stock of the world. So this is a guy who
criticizes everybody but himself. And at some point, you got to say,
wait a minute, we’re better than that. We are stronger than that. We
want to forward – forward – into the future with confidence and
optimism, and that’s what we’re offering in this campaign.
I got
to tell you, it is not just what we’re against that should motivate you
to go to the polls; it’s what we are for. And I believe strongly that
what we’re for will make it possible for all of us, and especially our
kids and our grandkids, to have the best future. America’s best days can
still be ahead of us. But we can’t make any of this happen if we don’t
have you voting.
Now, Donald Trump says he can still win, and he’s
right. That’s why it’s so important everyone gets out and votes. And
here in Florida – in a lot of places, you can only vote on Election Day,
but here in Florida, voting couldn’t be easier. Early voting began on
Monday. In south Florida, it goes through Sunday, November 6 around the
state. You can go to an early voting site between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00
p.m. In fact, the County Center on East Kennedy Boulevard is just a
10-minute walk from here. You can go vote right after this event. And
we’ll have staff ready to help you get there. And you can go to iwillvote.com to confirm your polling place and make a plan to vote.
But I also hope you will volunteer these last two weeks. We’re reaching out to everybody. So go to hillaryclinton.comand
sign up to volunteer. Take out your phone and text J-O-I-N, and that is
47246. We can use you. We’re making millions of phone calls in Florida.
We’re knocking on maybe by the time we finish millions of doors.
We
don’t want anybody to be left out or left behind because on January
20th, America will have a new president. I’ve got to say – so I’ve got
to say to you that change is inevitable in life. Right? And so the real
question is, what kind of change are we going to have? And I want you to
talk to anybody you know who is either thinking of not voting or maybe
thinking of voting for my opponent. No. I’m serious. I’m serious. After
this election, if I’m fortunate enough to be elected, we are going to
reach out to everybody. Right? And ask. Ask the people you’re talking to
what kind of change they really want because I don’t think most
Americans want the kind of divisive and dark change Donald Trump is
offering: mass deportations that will rip families apart, a repeal of
gun-free school zones on day one, going back to the day when insurance
companies could discriminate against us if we have a preexisting
condition, letting Wall Street write its own rules, denying the science
of climate change, rolling back marriage equality, defunding Planned
Parenthood, the hugest tax breaks ever for the wealthy, and abroad
abandoning our alliances and allowing more countries to get nuclear
weapons.” AUDIENCE: “No.” HILLARY CLINTON: “Now,
that may be change, but, boy, that’s not the change we need. And my
vision is different. It’s more hopeful, optimistic, and unifying. I want
us to be a country where every student could afford to go to college if
that’s what you choose. I want us to be a country where millions of
people are working in good, high-paying jobs and in new industries, like
clean energy and advanced manufacturing. I want us to be a country
where hard-working immigrants, who pay taxes – and, by the way, one-half
of undocumented workers pay federal income taxes, which means they are
paying more federal income taxes than Donald Trump paid. And a country
where we not only have equal pay for our work but affordable childcare,
where we’re respected in the world, working with our allies to defeat
terrorism and stop the spread of nuclear weapons. So yes, change is
coming, The choice is yours about what kind of change we’ll have.
And
I hope you will choose to be part of this campaign because it’s not
just about winning on November 8th, as important as that is. It is about
getting to work because I do believe we are stronger together.
Tim
Kaine and I wrote a book laying out our agenda because I think you
deserve to know what I will try to do as your president. So if you will
help, we will come together to give every American the chance to chart
your own future and contribute to our great country. Let’s prove once
and for all that love trumps hate.
Thank you.”
