Reid flays Trump for being misogynistic, anti-immigrant

Washington, May 10: In a blistering attack on Donald Trump, a top Democratic Senator has said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is the natural evolution of a party which spent eight years honing a platform that is anti-immigrant, anti-women and anti-working people.

"The Republican Party's chickens have come home to roost in the form of Donald J Trump," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in a major speech on the Senate floor yesterday.

"The party of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower – the party of these great men nominated a misogynistic, anti-Latino, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant xenophobe. The party of Teddy Roosevelt nominated a billionaire con-man who scams working people," he said.

The Nevada Senator alleged that Trump represented everything that Americans detest about a system that is rigged for the super-rich. Here is a person who was born into immense wealth, but uses his father's fortune to rip people off and intimidate those who speak out against his shady business practices, Reid alleged.

"Here is a person who was gifted the resources to make a difference in this world. He really could be doing things to improve the lives of working Americans. Instead, he has only worked to build his own celebrity – his own brand. And he uses that fame as a bully pulpit to sow hatred and intolerance," he said. Reid, 76, said that the rise of Trump was no accident.

"His nomination is not some mistake. Donald Trump is the natural evolution of a party that spent eight years honing a platform that is anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-Obama and anti-working people," he said.

"It wasn't all that long ago that Republicans used to engage Democrats on policy. There was a time when we could work together on substantive legislation. I saw it. I felt it. It was wonderful. But that all ended when President Obama was elected. Senator McConnell ordered a total blockade of any policy proposed by President Obama and Democrats," Reid said.

He said it was a sad day for the US when the Republican Party trusts the judgment of a vile, swindling billionaire.

"But anyone who has been paying attention to what Republicans have been doing for the past eight years should not be shocked," Reid said, adding that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee and he would support her.

"I'm not hiding from that. Republican senators need to stop waffling about Donald Trump. Not going to the convention doesn't take away the fact that he's the Republican nominee," he said.

"I hear a number of Republican senators say, 'I'm not going to the convention. Well, that solves the problem, doesn't it? Republican senators need to say whether they're going to vote for this guy," Reid added.

PTI