During a campaign speech in Reno, NV, on Aug. 25, Hillary Clinton delivered her sharpest criticism yet [1] of Donald Trump, his extremist views, and his disorganized campaign. The Democratic presidential nominee called him an example of "prejudice and paranoia," and cited his call for a ban on Muslims, his refusal to disavow the support from David Duke (a former KKK member), his suggestion that Mexicans were rapists, and his role in leading the birther movement that claims Obama wasn't born in the US.
Watch her full speech here:
The essence of her message can be summarized with this single quote:
"A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military."
Clinton was also careful to separate Trump's dangerous ideals from the rest of the Republican party. She said, "Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant ideas — all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the 'Alt-Right.'" The alternative right movement refers to a particular group of conservatives railing against so-called "political correctness, [2]" but whose ideals are largely racist. The distinction is that the alt-right's values are distinctly rooted in xenophobia while the GOP party's — though conservative — are not.
As Clinton was speaking, her team posted some of her central points on Twitter. See them here:
Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He's taking hate groups mainstream.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [3]
Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [4]
When Trump was getting his start in business, he was sued by the Justice Dept. for refusing to rent apartments to black and Latino tenants.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [5]
State regulators fined one of Trump's casinos for repeatedly removing black dealers from the floor.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [6]
Trump first gained political prominence promoting the racist lie that President Obama isn't really an American. https://t.co/WPM1I9PPN3 [7]
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [8]
Trump refused to disavow the support of David Duke, a notorious former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. https://t.co/PD8bNwuS3c [9]
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [10]
When Donald Trump was asked about anti-Semitic slurs and death threats coming from his supporters, he refused to condemn them.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [11]
Trump suggested that Ted Cruz's father was involved in the Kennedy assassination.
Of course there's absolutely no evidence of that.— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [12]
Someone as detached from reality as Donald Trump should never be in charge of making decisions that are as real as they come.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [13]
Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president of the United States.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 25, 2016 [14]
Many on Twitter reacted positively to her speech:
All I can say about @HillaryClinton [15] speech: Damn Girl, you stomped it.
— I'm With Her (@imwithhernow) August 25, 2016 [16]
Biggest takeaway from @HillaryClinton [17]'s speech:
Racists 👏
Please 👏
Keep 👏
It 👏
Mov 👏
ing. 👏
We 👏
Don't 👏
Have 👏
Time 👏
For 👏
This 👏
Mess. 👏— Oliver Chin (@Oliverdirtyb) August 25, 2016 [18]
Hillary Clinton is slicing and dicing Donald Trump so well, she could do a YouTube cooking show on the side.
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) August 25, 2016 [19]
Damn, @HillaryClinton [20] just punched @realDonaldTrump [21] in the throat with that speech. Sometimes well crafted words hit hardest #NeverTrump [22]
— John Novak (@johnjnovak2) August 25, 2016 [23]