Ghost of Atlantic City Continues to Haunt Trump Candidacy

Hillary Clinton traveled to Atlantic City Wednesday and with a shuttered casino as her backdrop, she assailed Donald Trump's business practices.  

"What he did here in Atlantic City is exactly what he'll do if he wins in November," Clinton told a crowd of supporters. 

Trump opened three casinos in Atlantic City and filed for bankruptcy protection for all three.

"I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City," Trump said last year during a Republican presidential primary debate. "I left Atlantic City seven years ago, before it totally cratered. And I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and I’m very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very very proud of it. And by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion and they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess."

Now, it's not just the Trump casinos, but the entire city that is bankrupt. State Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on a fix. WNYC's Matt Katz tells host Jami Floyd that while much of Atlantic City's problems cannot be blamed on Trump, or Governor Chris Christie, neither of them can fully escape responsibility for the disaster. Trump's casinos first brought attention and growth to Atlantic City, but then the collapse came quickly. 

"He over-borrowed and over-promised, and it's now clear that casino regulators in New Jersey let him get away with a lot of stuff and the fast growth of his casinos ended up culminating with three corporate bankruptcies," Katz said. "To this day, there are business people in the south Jersey region who are hurting from it because when he went into bankruptcy they got paid pennies on the dollar."

Katz spoke to WNYC's Jami Floyd.