Politics

On Thursday, Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver turned up the heat on bitter Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over her support of trade policies like NAFTA and the TPP.

Weaver, who has been a vocal critic of Clinton, seems to serve as Sanders’ “bulldog” in the vein of Thomas Huxley, defending him from attacks and launching his own with more aggression than the Vermont Senator is capable of mustering.

In a press release called Hillary Clinton: Outsourcer-in-Chief, Weaver stated:

“At a rally on Wednesday former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told those gathered, ‘Don’t let anybody tell you we can’t make anything in America anymore.’

“What she failed to tell the audience is that she has been a consistent advocate of the job-killing trade deals that have contributed to the loss of nearly 60,000 factories in the United States and almost 5 million manufacturing jobs over the last 15 years.

Weaver then launches into a series of attacks on Clinton’s record. Specifically, he takes aim at her support of trade policies like NAFTA, the TPP, and the free trade agreement with Panama, which Weaver says cost millions of American jobs.

“Hillary Clinton supported NAFTA. NAFTA cost 850,000 U.S. jobs. 43,000 jobs alone in Michigan. 35,000 jobs in Ohio. 35,000 in Illinois.

“Hillary Clinton supported Permanent Normalized Trade Relations with China. That deal cost the country 3.2 million jobs.

“The free trade agreement with Panama? Guess what, Hillary Clinton supported that one too.

“Now, American jobs are threatened by the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Hillary Clinton spoke favorably about the TPP 45 times. She called it the ‘Gold Standard.’ Now she says she ‘has reservations about it.’

Finally, Weaver concludes:

“Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and strong supporter of these job-crushing trade deals, is not worried about Clinton getting in the way of this deal. He said he knows that if she’s elected she’ll flip back to support it.

“Election year conversions won’t bring back American jobs. Bernie Sanders believes that the top priority of any trade deal should be to help American workers and he’s the only candidate who has consistently fought against job-killing trade deals.”

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