GREENSBORO, N.C.: Back on the campaign trail, a reflective Hillary Clinton said Thursday her three-day, doctor-mandated break gave her new perspective on why she’s running to be president. She vowed to close her campaign against Donald Trump by giving Americans “something to vote for, not just against.”
Clinton made no apologies for keeping her pneumonia diagnosis from the public until a video emerged showing her stumbling and being supported by aides. She also repeatedly sidestepped questions about when her running mate, Tim Kaine, was informed.
An upbeat Clinton walked onstage at a rally in North Carolina to James Brown’s song I Got You (I Feel Good). She said that while sitting at home this week was “pretty much the last place I wanted to be,” the time helped clarify how she wants to close her campaign against Trump.
“We’re offering ideas, not insults,” she said in a jab at her Republican rival. “A plan that will make a real difference in people’s lives, not prejudice and paranoia.”
Later Thursday, Clinton pushed back against a Latinos for Trump founder who warned that an out-of-control immigration system would lead to “taco trucks on every corner” in the United States.
Clinton, speaking at a Washington gala of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, said she thinks “a taco truck on every corner sounds absolutely delicious.”
Pointing to the benefits of a diverse nation, Clinton seized upon Trump’s unwillingness to say President Barack Obama was born in the United States and his past support for the “birther” movement questioning Obama’s citizenship.
“We need to stand up and repudiate this divisive rhetoric,” Clinton said. “We need to stop him conclusively in November in an election that sends a message that even he can hear.”
With Clinton’s illness prompting fresh questions about both candidates’ openness regarding their health, Trump released a new letter from his doctor Thursday. It detailed his blood pressure, cholesterol and medications; a day earlier Clinton made public a letter from her physician with similar information. Both candidates’ doctors declared them fit to serve as president.
Trump’s letter said the Republican is 6-foot-3 and 236 pounds — giving him a body mass index falling into the “overweight” range. The 70-year-old has blood pressure of 116 over 70, and his total cholesterol is 169, his doctor says.
Clinton, 68, has blood pressure of 100 over 70, and her total cholesterol is 189, according to her doctor. Her letter made no mention of her weight, a key part of a medical exam, nor did a similar letter released last year.
Trump, after releasing his health information, spent Thursday laying out plans to lower taxes by $4.4 trillion over a decade and cut regulations, including some of those currently intended to protect the food Americans eat and the air they breathe.
The Republican said his plans would raise the nation’s economic growth rate to at least 3.5 percent, well above its current rate of about 2 percent, and create 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years.
The heart of Trump’s plan is a revised tax code.
Trump also said he believes women should be able to obtain birth control without a prescription. Speaking on an episode of The Dr. Oz Show airing Thursday, the Republican suggested that, for many women, obtaining a prescription can be challenging.
The GOP’s 2016 platform, meanwhile, opposes “over-the-counter sales of powerful contraceptives.”