Con-Man Trump Is Now Launching His Biggest Hoax Yet, Trying to Be Bernie Sanders

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

01 July 16

on-man Trump is now launching the biggest hoax of his career. He’s trying to be Bernie Sanders. “Bernie Sanders and I are in complete accord [on] trade," Trump said yesterday in Ohio, continuing to rail against NAFTA, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and other trade deals. "[Bernie] said we're being ripped off and I say with being ripped off. I've been saying it for years he's been saying it for years. I think I am saying it even louder."

Trump is posing as the anti-establishment populist, campaigning against the establishment’s Hillary Clinton. "If we're going to deliver real change,” he said Tuesday in Pennsylvania, “we're going to have to reject the campaign of fear and intimidation being pushed by powerful corporations, media elites, and powerful dynasties. The people who rigged the system for their benefit will do anything and say anything to keep things exactly as they are."

Multi-billionaire Trump – who inherited his initial wealth and connections from his father, who then for year bribed politicians to subsidize his hotels and casinos, who repeatedly used bankruptcy to shield his fortune while leaving creditors and workers holding the bag – is now a born-against populist who wants America to believe he’s taking on both the Republican and Democratic establishments.

"It's almost -- in some ways, like, I'm running against two parties," Trump told conservative talk radio host Mike Gallagher earlier today, after leading Republicans have refused to endorse him and Republican political front groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce repudiated his trade plans. The Republican establishment couldn't have helped Trump more.

The surge of anti-establishment anger among American voters is real. But with Bernie effectively out of the race, there’s no anti-establishment candidate. Huckster Trump is trying to take the mantle.

Will he get away with it? How should Hillary respond?