Hillary Clinton is a better presidential candidate than Donald Trump because she’s making realistic promises to voters, campaign surrogate and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez argued Sunday.
“She’s not making false promises to people that you can’t keep,” the Obama appointee said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday morning.
Perez, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Clinton, shrugged off questions about whether he might be chosen as a running mate.
Perez referred to Trump as the “chaos candidate,” pointing to his statement in the wake of the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union that the drop in the value of the pound would be good for his Scottish golf course.
While Trump was playing to voters’ fears about global events, Perez said, Clinton is talking about issues, such as workforce development and clean energy.
He also argued that Clinton has been consistent on the issues, including on the topic of trade that has played to Trump’s advantage. Clinton, he said, “has been clear” in her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. But Clinton only staked out opposition to the Pacific nation deal on the campaign trail, after advocating for it as secretary of state.
Host George Stephanopoulos challenged Perez, bringing up the results of a new poll suggesting that a majority of voters want a change in direction, a negative reflection on the Obama administration’s leadership and the possibility of a Democratic successor.
“I think it’s important — and this campaign will certainly do this — to point out where we were, where we are and where we need to go,” Perez responded.
“When this president took office, we were in the worst ditch of our lifetimes,” he added.
