Hickenlooper: Trump needs to have a ‘real discussion’ about capitalism

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) said President Trump would rather have a “divisive fight” than discuss solving issues on Tuesday after Trump accused Hickenlooper of refusing “to acknowledge capitalism.”

“Americans are dealing with serious challenges around the affordability of healthcare, education and housing and an economy that hasn’t produced jobs that pay,” Hickenlooper, a presidential candidate, said in a statement to The Hill. “President Trump would rather have a divisive fight argument about labels than have a real discussion about how to solve these problems.” 

{mosads}”Fomenting division is his way of distracting us from the fact that he is actually making things worse for Americans, by giving tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations while proposing devastating cuts to Medicare, imposing tariffs that hurt farmers and consumers and hollowing out the Affordable Care Act.” Hickenlooper added. 

Trump said Hickenlooper was “ashamed” of the word capitalism in an interview published Monday by far-right website Breitbart.

“I watched a certain gentleman — I won’t mention his name, but he made a couple of bucks, he refuses to acknowledge capitalism,” Trump said. “You saw that over the weekend — Hickenlooper. He was ashamed of the word, and yet I’ve seen others maybe going in the other direction.”

Hickenlooper said on Sunday that he was “happy to say” he is a capitalist, but that labels like capitalist and socialist “do nothing but divide us.”

He previously declined to call himself a “proud capitalist” during an MSNBC interview on Friday. 

Hickenlooper is one of many people vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination. His opponents include self-avowed democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), as well as Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).