Sen. Sherrod Brown launched a surprise verbal attack on Donald Trump Tuesday by calling the presumptive Republican nominee a “factory of bad ideas.”
Brown, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee who has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Democrat Hillary Clinton, used an unlikely venue — an opening statement at a hearing featuring Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen — to issue a lengthy takedown of Trump’s economic policies.
The Ohio Democrat faulted Trump for saying that he would replace Yellen, that he favors the gold standard for monetary policy, and that he would renegotiate or refinance the $19 trillion national debt.
Trump’s ideas, he said, are disfavored by economists. “If your own very good brain is your top consultant, I suppose the unanimous opinion of a diverse group of economists does not count for much,” Brown added mockingly, referring to Trump’s comment that he mostly consults himself on foreign policy matters.
Brown warned that people in the “evidence-based world” should be concerned that Trump would trade “imagined for real authority” in economic policy.
Brown, a reliable liberal on the Banking Committee, has been listed among the top candidates that Clinton may consider for a vice presidential pick by a number of publications.
