Pataki: 'I Think Trump is Just Dreadful'

First-in-the-nation Republican presidential primary candidate former Gov. George Pataki, R-NY, made a quick campaign stop in New Hampshire last week where he met with business groups in the southern part of the state, held a few quick interviews in Concord, and then headed north for meetings and fairs.

At his stop in Concord, which was billed as a downtown stroll, Pataki commented about the state of the race – noting that it was still summer, so polling data really didn’t matter – and reacted to the latest comments from the man in the race who has been taking the wind out of everyone’s sails, Donald Trump, who has been hosting huge crowds in both New Hampshire and around the country.

Currently, Pataki said, the campaign was pretty much “sound bite reality TV politics” although if it were February, he admitted that he might be a bit worried about his very low standings in the polls. But, he said, voters were responding positively to his visits to the Granite State and Iowa, and his solutions, which he called “grownup government.”

On Trump, he called him “just dreadful,” and said his solutions weren’t solutions at all but were demagoguery.

“The idea that we’re going to take more than 10 million Mexicans and deport them, the idea that Mexicans are thugs and rapists … we don’t need someone who divides us,” he said. “Obama has done that for the last seven years. We need someone who brings us together.”

Pataki called comments about anchor babies being deported “outrageous,” noting that an 11- or 12-year-old girl who was born and raised in America and had never been to another country, should never be forced to leave just because of what her parents did.

“It’s not just stupid it’s un-American,” he said. “I am appalled that so many of my fellow Republicans seeking the nomination have been afraid to stand up to Trump and say that this is wrong and outrageous and I wish they would.”

Immigration hasn’t been the only hot topic for Trump that works on the campaign trail. The country’s broken trade and tariff system that has sent millions of low skill, decent wage jobs overseas has also garnered the real estate mogul praise from the hustings.

When asked, Pataki said he would tackle it from another direction – creating a more competitive market for American companies globally by lowering corporate taxes on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world, as one example.

“Right now,” he said, “it’s the highest.”

Pataki said he knew how important those jobs were since he had family members that worked in factories and he also worked in factories during summers and while he was in college. A wall around the country, however, would not bring the jobs back to America, he said.

“We have a government climate that forces jobs overseas and I will change that,” he said.

After his interviews, he chatted with two members of the American Friends Service Committee who peppered him with questions on Main Street and then shook hands and chatted with voters in Bicentennial Square. Pataki then stopped in at the Granite State Candy Shop for ice cream with staffers and met with more voters who were eyeing the delicious chocolate.

“It’s the best chocolate in the state,” one shopper said to him.

While at the store, he grabbed a root beer from a cooler and ordered a scoop of vanilla in a soda cup. A store clerk then poured the root beer into the cup and gave it to the candidate. As Pataki took a quick taste, she quickly grabbed a towel to catch it overflowing on his hand.

“Mmm, thank you,” he quickly said before re-joining campaign staffers and heading to the North Country.