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by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, June 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump hit his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton hard Wednesday in a speech broadcast nationwide, calling the latter a liar and a corrupt politician.
"She gets rich by making you poor," the brash billionaire told an audience in New York City, contending that Clinton has used her political ties to enrich herself at the expense of Americans.
In a speech that went for Clinton's jugular, Trump blasted Clinton for supporting economic policies that he said ruined the economies of myriad rural areas in the United States, in states such as New York and Pennsylvania.
He also went after the Democratic nominee for her record as Secretary of State, arguing that Clinton has spread "death" and "destruction" around the world, blaming her for allowing the rise of the Islamic State (IS), which has run rampant across the Middle East and carried out deadly attacks in the West.
Clinton may be "the most corrupt" candidate ever to seek the presidency of the United States, Trump said, going through incident after incident and listing Clinton's alleged "corrupt dealings" in a nearly one-hour speech.
The speech comes at a time when Trump is slipping behind Clinton in the polls, and as analysts say the bombastic businessman needs to start reaching out beyond his base of support and broaden his message and tap independent voters, who may well decide the election.
Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that Trump' s speech is nothing new, and that the candidate needs to widen his message in order to close the polling gap between he and rival Clinton.
"He said she was a 'world class liar' but presented no new angles regarding that line of attack," West said.
"It is hard to see this speech moving people who weren' t persuaded by the many other speeches he has given on the same topic," he said, adding that at the moment Trump' s campaign is in turmoil, as it has little money or infrastructure for the fall campaign.
Moreover, Trump is having trouble getting independents on board. While he has galvanized the white middle class, he has had trouble reaching out beyond the Republican rank-and-file.
The real estate tycoon's "negative rate" underscores this, as the metric measures the level at which people like and dislike a candidate, and Trump's negative numbers stand at a whopping 70 percent -- the largest of any candidate in recent memory.
In other words, his supporters love him but many others strongly dislike the New York mogul. And that does not bode well in an election that may well be decided by independent voters.
"He hasn't broadened his message and figured out how to go beyond his current base," West said.
Indeed, Trump has drawn fire from Hispanics in the past by saying Mexicans are rapists, placing doubts on whether he can persuade even a small portion of this important voting bloc to vote for him in November.
The controversial candidate has also offended Muslims by saying he would ban the immigration of people from countries linked to terrorism, reiterating that message earlier this month after the horrific shooting attack in Orlando, Florida that left 49 people dead. Enditem
