In California, Trump rakes Clinton, Sanders goes after Trump

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto, where he called for an affordable housing building boom and “creative” approaches to combat gentrification. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto, where he called for an affordable housing building boom and “creative” approaches to combat gentrification. Photo: Thomas Webb, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Thomas Webb, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close In California, Trump rakes Clinton, Sanders goes after Trump 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

SACRAMENTO — Presidential hopeful Donald Trump paid another visit to California on Wednesday, bringing his boilerplate calls for a border wall and more American jobs to the state capital, while Sen. Bernie Sanders spent among the final days before the state’s Tuesday primary on the Peninsula.

The presumptive Republican nominee spoke amid sweltering temperatures in a hangar next to the Sacramento International Airport, appearing to talk off the cuff on topics that ranged from Gov. Jerry Brown to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.

“Hillary Clinton, she lies, lies, lies, lies,” Trump said to the screaming applause of about 3,000.

Standing at a podium in front his plane, the real estate mogul riffed on what may be the latest setback for the candidate: the World Golf Championships event long held at Miami’s Trump National Doral course is reportedly being moved to Mexico, a shift the PGA Tour said had nothing to do with politics yet it follows criticism from the Tour after his divisive comments about women and minorities.

Trump: ‘Not good’

“Think of it: Miami to Mexico City. Not good,” Trump said.

Trump also weighed in on Brown’s recent endorsement of Clinton, expressing halfhearted disappointment.

“I know Jerry Brown. I love Jerry Brown. Who loves Jerry Brown?” he said.

Trump notably made no mention of California’s historic drought, which last week in Fresno he said was nonexistent and pledged to “start opening up the water” if elected.

He spelled out few policy prescriptions during his roughly 35 minutes on the stump.

The crowd, which began lining up for the 7 p.m. rally as early as 10 a.m., braved 90-plus degree temperatures at the Sacramento International Jet Center to hear the billionaire reality-TV star speak.

“The lines are way longer at AT&T Park,” said Hunter Stevens, of Lodi, who didn’t mind the wait, even if it meant using the hastily set up portable toilets.

About two dozen protested in the parking lot next to the hangar chanting, “Dump Trump now” and “No more hate in our state.” Conflicts between protesters and police have led to arrests at recent Trump events in Fresno and San Diego.

Trump is scheduled to hold another rally at 7 p.m. Thursday at the San Jose Convention Center.

Nonstop tour of state

Meanwhile, Sanders kept up his seemingly nonstop tour of California on Wednesday, drawing distinctions with Clinton, but saving his toughest attacks for Trump.

“Because of the rise of Trumpism, suddenly a lot of the racism that has been kind of pushed down has popped up again,” Sanders said at a town hall forum dubbed “Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders for Bernie” at a community center in Palo Alto.

In the wake of Trump calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, Sanders said, Muslim parents have told him their children are afraid to walk the streets.

“This cannot and must not be allowed to go on in the United States of America,” Sanders said. “And together we will fight back against this bigotry, this attempt to divide this country up. We will not allow Donald Trump and his friends to break our unity.”

It was one of three Sanders stops Wednesday, that included not just the Palo Alto forum and a rally outside the community center, but a news conference in the Salinas Valley hamlet of Spreckels (Monterey County) where he stated his opposition to fracking. The visits were his latest in a string of California appearances that have taken the Vermont senator from the southern reaches of the state to the Central Coast and Central Valley.

Needling, not scathing

As polls tightened in California leading up to next week’s presidential primary, his tone toward Clinton in Palo Alto wasn’t so much scathing as needling. He noted that the presumed front-runner was canceling events elsewhere to make last-minute California appearances as polls show her lead here shrinking to within the margin of error.

“I just saw Hillary Clinton racing to California. I saw Bill Clinton racing to California,” Sanders told the crowd outside Cubberley Community Center. “Maybe they think this race is not over.”

Clinton is likely to clinch the Democratic nomination next week, needing just a third of the remaining delegates awarded in the remaining state primaries.

Sanders for carbon tax

When Sanders drew contrasts between him and Clinton, he did so comparatively gently. He pointed out that she voted in the Senate to give the George W. Bush administration the authority to invade Iraq, while he opposed the resolution. To combat climate change, Sanders noted, he supports a carbon tax while Clinton doesn’t.

And although they both oppose the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowing unlimited contributions to independently run political campaigns, Sanders said he has discouraged super PACs from supporting his campaign. Clinton has chosen a different path, he said, saying she “has raised many millions from Wall Street and many special interests.”

He was accompanied in Palo Alto by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, a military veteran who said she resigned her position in the Democratic Party leadership so she could support Sanders. She said he is more likely than Clinton to oppose unnecessary U.S. military intervention overseas, and noted specifically that Clinton has supported a no-fly zone in the Middle East.

Combatting gentrification

“That’s why I’m supporting Sen. Sanders — because I don’t think he would get us into these types of conflicts,” Gabbard said in an interview after the forum.

In the heart of Silicon Valley — where the price of housing is among the highest in the country — Sanders called for “creative” approaches to tackling gentrification, in addition to building “millions of units” of affordable housing nationwide.

“If you’re a developer and you have the money to build fancy condos, you should not be able to drive people out of the neighborhoods where they have grown up and they have lived,” Sanders said.

Joe Garofoli and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com, srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: joegarofoli @SteveRubeSF