Trump Tells American Voters: Reject Hillary’s ‘Campaign of Fear’

In his Tuesday economic address in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump urged the American electorate to “reject” Hillary Clinton’s “campaign of fear,” and vote to reclaim economic independence.

“If we’re going to deliver real change, we’re going to have to reject the campaign of fear and intimidation being pushed by powerful corporations, media elites, and political dynasties,” Trump declared. “The people who rigged the system for their benefit will do anything – and say anything – to keep things exactly as they are.”

Trump explained that, “the people who rigged the system are supporting Hillary Clinton because they know as long as she is in charge nothing will ever change. The inner cities will remain poor. The factories will remain closed. The borders will remain open. The special interests will remain firmly in control. Hillary Clinton and her friends in global finance want to scare America into thinking small – and they want to scare the American people out of voting for a better future.”

Trump’s declaration seems to echo the sentiment expressed by Brexit advocates, who successfully encouraged U.K. voters to ignore — what was dubbed — Project Fear, in which the Remain campaign recruited establishment politicians and executives from multinational firms to offer grave predictions about a possible Brexit — designed to convince the victims of globalization that they had to remain in their current economic structure.

In recent weeks, the Clinton campaign appears to be increasingly reliant upon campaign tactics of stoking fear. For instance, Clinton has warned that Trump’s desire to crack down on the illicit practices of foreign trading partners will spark a “trade war,” and has suggested that the U.S. cannot enforce its immigration laws — and that attempting to do so is “bad economics.” Most recently, Clinton launched a new campaign ad responding directly to Brexit, which seems designed to scare voters from supporting Trump. Clinton’s ad begins with footage of NBC’s Chuck Todd announcing “enormous shock waves from Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union. Global markets are plummeting.” The ad’s narrator then ominously concludes: “In a volatile world, the last thing we need is a volatile president.”

Trump says that in sharp contrast to Clinton’s campaign of fear, “My campaign has the opposite message. I want you to imagine how much better your life can be if we start believing in America again. I want you to imagine how much better our future can be if we declare independence from the elites who’ve led us to one financial and foreign policy disaster after another.”

Indeed, Hank Paulson — George W. Bush’s treasury secretary who presided over the 2008 economic meltdown and former CEO of Goldman Sachs — recently penned an op-ed indicating that he is all in for Hillary Clinton. In his op-ed, Paulson provides gloomy predictions about a Trump presidency – arguing that Trump’s desire to put an end to the harmful trading practices of foreign partners and stop bad trade deals will “destroy” jobs. Paulson cites Clinton’s globalist policies on trade and immigration as part of the reason for his endorsement.

Interestingly, Paulson was similarly part of the Remain campaign’s Project Fear in the U.K. — having signed a letter with other former U.S. Treasury Secretaries urging the U.K. to remain. Paulson’s letter warned that Brexit would be “risky” for the “country’s economic future,” and that “Brexit could call into question London’s role as a global financial centre.” The letter was subsequently promoted by David Cameron.

However, voters in Britain rejected this campaign of fear and voted to reclaim their sovereignty. In his Tuesday address, Trump explained that this is the choice the American people now face:

Our friends in Britain recently voted to take back control of their economy, politics and borders. I was on the right side of that issue – with the people – while Hillary, as always, stood with the elites, and both she and President Obama predicted that one wrong. Now it’s time for the American people to take back their future. That’s the choice we face. We can either give in to Hillary Clinton’s campaign of fear, or we can choose to believe in America….

In the past week, reports have noted that Clinton’s campaign message appears to increasingly resemble that of the failed Remain campaign. In addition to engaging in her own version of “Project Fear,” Clinton similarly champions globalist policies on trade and immigration. She even shares a similar campaign slogan, as the New York Times has highlighted: Clinton’s slogan “Strong Together” echoes the failed Remain campaign’s slogan “Stronger In.”