The senator called Trump \u201ca real danger to the country,\u201d and added that he should not be underestimated, even though he\u2019s a decisive underdog against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, whom Schatz already has endorsed.<\/p>\n
“I think he’s be dangerous for the world. I think he’ll divide our country,” — Sen. Brian Schatz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important for people of all political persuasions to understand that he\u2019s a threat in a different way,\u201d Schatz said. \u201cThis is not an ideological critique of candidate Trump. He brings out the worst in people. I think he has close to zero foreign policy experience. I think he\u2019ll be dangerous for the world. I think he\u2019ll divide our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Schatz also sees a glimmer of hope in the potential political darkness. Trump is such a divisive figure among Republicans, that his candidacy could give Senate Democrats a chance to retake the chamber. Democrats would need a gain of five seats to do so; they are defending 10 Senate seats this fall, while\u00a0Republicans must defend 24.<\/p>\n
Should control of the Senate switch, Schatz, who\u2019s only been in office for three years, would shoot up the seniority ladder, which would likely result in better committee assignments that could benefit Hawaii.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a few seats that we were already favored to win, but the map just expanded massively,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear the Democrats will be united. But perhaps the part that remains underestimated is the extent to which true conservatives are not going to come around to Donald Trump. They find him offensive. I\u2019m not sure they will vote for the Democrat. But a lot of them may stay home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz has an eye on what he can accomplish in 2017. While he\u2019s up for re-election this year, there\u2019s no significant challenger on the horizon. He also has\u00a0$3 million in the bank, should a legitimate challenger come forth to run against him. But Schatz \u2014 who was appointed to his position in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11778,"featured_media":1185041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37717,2782,37609,2792],"tags":[],"post_format":[],"project":[],"coauthors":[2010],"class_list":["post-1185156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections-2016","category-hawaii-beat","category-homelessness","category-politics"],"slp_mobile_featured_image":{"id":1185041,"href":"https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185041","image_path":"https:\/\/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/2016\/05\/Senator-Brian-Schatz-editorial-board5.jpg","caption":"U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz was recently elected to his first six-year term. He says he's now ready to take on Republicans and the Trump administration."},"acf":[],"slp_coauthors":[{"display_name":"Nick Grube","user_nicename":"ngrube","author_link":"https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/author\/ngrube\/"}],"slp_acf":{"cb_excerpt_type":"","cb_article_type":"","cb_related_logo_image":false,"cb_related_logo_link":"","cb_related_sponsor_logo_image":false,"cb_related_sponsor_url":"","cb_related_sponsor_text":"","cb_article_footnotes":"","dynamic_html":"","cb_author_contributor_type":"internal","cb_article_sidebar":""},"slp_primary_category":{"id":2782,"name":"Hawai\u02bbi"},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Schatz Takes On D.C., Homelessness And The Donald","url":"http:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/2016\/05\/schatz-dishes-on-homelessness-and-the-donald\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/2016\/05\/schatz-dishes-on-homelessness-and-the-donald\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/2016\/05\/Senator-Brian-Schatz-editorial-board5-150x150.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/2016\/05\/Senator-Brian-Schatz-editorial-board5.jpg"},"articleSection":"Elections 2016","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nick Grube"}],"creator":["Nick Grube"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"天美视频","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2016-05-06T10:08:56Z","datePublished":"2016-05-06T10:08:56Z","dateModified":"2016-05-06T16:14:27Z"},"rendered":"