DUBUQUE, IA – AUGUST 25: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guests gathered from around Iowa and neighboring Wisconsin. (PHOTO: GETTY)
The conservative pro-economic freedom Club for Growth PAC slammed GOP frontrunner Donald Trump over remarks he made in Dubuque, Iowa on Tuesday night.
“I would say very simply, ‘Fellas, sorry, you gotta move back,'” Trump said Tuesday regarding Ford Motor Company, who recently announced they will build a plant in Mexico. “I’ll call them up and say, ‘Gotta go. I don’t want you in Mexico.’ I would say to the head of Ford, ‘Sorry, I’m not gonna approve. You’re gonna pay a tax, for every car and every truck and every part that comes across that southern border, you’re gonna pay a 35% tax, OK?’ That’s what’s gonna happen.”
Those comments, which follow the protectionist rhetoric that has appealed to millions of Americans who feel the nation has got the raw end of trade deals over the last several decades, didn’t sit well with the pro-free trade Club.
“Donald Trump’s threat to impose new taxes on U.S. car companies will hurt the American economy and cost more American jobs,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh. “It should thrill liberals and Democrats everywhere that Trump wants to create new taxes and start a trade war to force American companies to work where he demands.”
This isn’t the first time The Club for Growth has gone after The Donald. Following his announcement, the Club circulated past statements made by the billionaire real estate mogul over the years. The email to PPD cited Trump’s past statements expressing support for universal health care, and prior donations to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. To be fair, Trump has stated he doesn’t support universal health care in the U.S. because it isn’t comparable to other countries, and now has put forward free market solutions. Regarding the donations, he has claimed he was just playing the game, which is corrupt and needs reform.
But Mr. McIntosh isn’t buying it. Immediately after the first GOP debate, he ripped Trump for being “proud that he made money from filing bankruptcies that cost thousands of jobs for Americans.”
“Instead of lowering corporate taxes, cutting unnecessary regulations, and fostering a more profitable environment in the U.S., as some Republican candidates have proposed,” he said. “Trump wants to unilaterally threaten a major U.S. manufacturer with higher taxes.”
But the Club’s various attacks mirror those unsuccessfully employed by various other 2016 Republican candidates vying for media attention in a crowded field dominated by Trump. Thus far, those attacks have proven fruitless, with pollster Frank Luntz characterizing Trump as “virtually impervious” to attacks on the issues. It would seem, at least this time around in 2016, the voters are just too pissed at the establishment.
In the latest national Republican nomination poll conducted by Gravis Marking for One America News Network, Trump hit the 40% mark. The survey marks the first time since any candidate–let alone the real estate mogul–has broken above the so-called 30% ceiling pundits have pegged him and others at.
“The strength of the U.S. economy has historically been our free markets. But, for the past seven years the Obama Administration has driven up costs for consumers by attacking free markets with costly regulations and executive orders,” McIntosh added. “Now Donald Trump wants to one-up the Obama pen-and-phone method by threatening global companies like Ford with higher taxes to make cars for Americans. If Donald Trump gets his way, the heavy hand of government will get substantially heavier, and car buyers will be left holding the bag.”
Whether the Club’s attacks or similar assaults from GOP hopefuls prove effective in the future remains to be seen.
