• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Leadership

‘He’s Been a Deadbeat’: How the Clinton Camp Plans to Pull ‘a Romney’ on Trump

By
Zeke J Miller
Zeke J Miller
,
TIME
TIME
and
Michelle Toh
Michelle Toh
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Zeke J Miller
Zeke J Miller
,
TIME
TIME
and
Michelle Toh
Michelle Toh
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 25, 2016, 1:38 AM ET
Hillary Clinton Campaigns With Tim Kaine In Virginia
ANNANDALE, VA - JULY 14: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) speaks as U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) (R) listens during a campaign event at Ernst Community Cultural Center at Northern Virginia Community College July 14, 2016 in Annandale, Virginia. Hillary Clinton continued to campaign for the general election in November. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)Alex Wong/ Getty Images

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

As they gather in Philadelphia Monday to nominate Hillary Clinton, Democrats plan to take a lesson, if not outright direction, from their playbook for defeating the last wealthy Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.

Four years ago, Barack Obama relentlessly caricatured Romney as an out-of-touch millionaire, who could not relate to the needs and concerns of ordinary workers. Clinton’s campaign plans to do the same—and worse—with their new enemy, Donald Trump, honing their attack on the bombastic billionaire, as a leader who only looks out for himself.

Joel Benenson, the Obama-turned-Clinton ad-maker, previewed the assault in an interview with TIME.

“He’s been a deadbeat when it comes to paying people who did work for him and I don’t think that’s what white working class voters are looking for in a president,” said Benenson.

See also: Hillary Clinton Has Aired 30,700 Ads Since Clinching the Nomination. Trump? Zero

The Clinton campaign released a web video before the Republican convention, featuring an architect who was denied payment from Trump for designing one of his golf clubhouses reminiscent of a 2012 gut-wrenching Priorities USA spot. A piano dealer who was allegedly stiffed by Trump was featured in a similar spot released during the convention.

In that ad, a former worker at a company owned by Romney’s former firm, Bain Capital, recounted building a stage that management used to announce everyone in the factory would be laid off.

See also: Wasserman Schultz to Have a New Role in Clinton Campaign

“Turns out that when we built that stage, it was like building my own coffin,” said Joe Soptic, the former employee. The ad laid the groundwork for the a series of ads run against Romney later that year, and only magnified by his comments that 47% of the country would vote for Obama no matter what, because they are dependent on government and consider themselves victims.

But Trump is no Romney. The former Massachusetts governor was the embarrassed plutocrat. Trump is the braggart who has been caught inflating his own wealth, as he spent his adult life courting the limelight.

 

Trump has always specialized in being a wealthy role model for working people, a fact that his campaign emphasized several times during the Republican convention in Cleveland.

See also: Business: The Trump Way

“We’re the only children of billionaires as comfortable in a D10 Caterpillar as we are in our own cars,” said Trump’s son, Donald Jr., during his convention speech. “He knows that at the heart of the American dream is the idea that whoever we are, wherever we’re from, we can get ahead.”

Trump’s appeal to the white working class, which has been evident in public polls, has always been ascribed by his aides to his ability to cross class barriers.

“I think people look at his success and see the American Dream,” former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told TIME.

Former Romney senior advisor Stuart Stevens called the perception that Romney was done in by the negative ads was a “myth,” saying demographics were a greater factor in his loss.

“The exit polls showed Romney getting killed on “cares about us,” he said. “But we had tracked that across campaign and it was stable at about -10, which is fairly normal for R vs. D.”

The real thing that moved that number, Stevens added, was Hurricane Sandy, which hit the east coast just days before the election.

See also: Commentary: Here’s Why Hillary Clinton Is Going to Beat Donald Trump

“It shot up 40 points with Sandy,” said Stevens. “[It] wasn’t a function of advertising.”

Matt McDonald, a partner at the DC firm Hamilton Place Strategies, who led the Romney campaign’s defense on his wealth, said he doubted the attack would stick on Trump the way it did on his former boss.

“You’re talking about a guy who has spent his entire life talking about how rich he is. So the ‘out-of-touch’ argument, I’m not sure that’s new information.”

See also: Trump: France, Others Hit by Terror May Face More Screening

“There is no question that some of the things that were said about Mitt Romney were about businesses that went out of business, whether it was because of too much debt, whatever,” Benenson said, before arguing that Trump was a far easier target.

“This guy refused to pay people who were doing the work. He put small businesses out of business. He refused to pay workers like painters and carpenters.”

Benenson suggested the campaign had a lot more examples to roll out.

“Suffice it to say,” he said, “there are ample opportunities to have hard-working Americans talk about the damage that Donald Trump caused in their lives.”

About the Authors
By Zeke J Miller
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By TIME
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Michelle Toh
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Leadership

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Leadership

The JPMorgan Chase and Co. global headquarters building, center, at 270 Park Avenue in New York, US, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025.
Real EstateLuxury
‘They’re going to have to think and act a lot more like hotels’: The new rules of office space now that the ‘genie is out of the bottle on hybrid’
By Jake AngeloJanuary 15, 2026
10 hours ago
AIEye on AI
Worried about AI taking your job? New Anthropic research shows it’s not that simple
By Sharon GoldmanJanuary 15, 2026
11 hours ago
Rich young man walking into office
SuccessWealth
The wealthy kids of property-rich U.K. parents get the highest-paying jobs, especially sons—and new research has revealed why
By Emma BurleighJanuary 15, 2026
13 hours ago
Andy Reid
SuccessCareers
America’s hottest job opening right now is in the NFL—no degree is required, you won’t be fixed to a desk and it pays up to $20 million
By Preston ForeJanuary 15, 2026
13 hours ago
Dante Moore reacts to green and white confetti falling on him.
SuccessSports
An NFL-bound college quarterback just turned down a $50 million payday to stay in school and play another season
By Sasha RogelbergJanuary 15, 2026
15 hours ago
NewslettersCEO Daily
The new CEO leading Saks Global through bankruptcy follows a management philosophy of ‘leading with love’
By Diane BradyJanuary 15, 2026
19 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Peter Thiel makes his biggest donation in years to help defeat California’s billionaire wealth tax
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 14, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Europe
Americans have been quietly plundering Greenland for over 100 years, since a Navy officer chipped fragments off the Cape York iron meteorite
By Paul Bierman and The ConversationJanuary 14, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Health
The head of marketing at Slate posted on LinkedIn requesting cleaning services as a benefit at her company. The next day, HR answered her call
By Sydney LakeJanuary 15, 2026
21 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Despite a $45 million net worth, Big Bang Theory star still works tough, 16-hour days—he repeats one mantra when overwhelmed
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJanuary 15, 2026
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
California's wealth tax doesn't fix the real problem: Cash-poor billionaires who borrow money, tax-free, to live on
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 14, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
One year after Bill Gates surprised with the choice to close his foundation by 2045, he's cutting staff jobs
By Stephanie Beasley and The Associated PressJanuary 14, 2026
1 day ago

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.