PHILADELPHIA — Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley took to the Democratic convention stage on Wednesday night to bash Donald Trump and offered his enthusiastic support for former 2016 presidential primary opponent Hillary Clinton.
“Trump turns anger into a political weapon,” O’Malley told the delegates. “Anger never built a great Republic. I say to hell with Trump’s American nightmare. We believe in the America Dream!”
While O’Malley referred to Clinton as someone who “is as tough as they come,” he hasn’t always been Clinton’s top supporter. When he was running against her during the primary many of O’Malley’s policy positions, such as on Wall Street regulation and climate change, were to the left of Clinton’s. O’Malley once called the former secretary of state someone who “flip flops in the wind.”
But O’Malley’s campaign never picked up much steam, and he dropped out of the race after earning less than 1 percent support in the Iowa caucus. The ex-governor endorsed Clinton in June, after she officially earned enough delegates to become the Democratic nominee. Since then, he has hit the campaign trail for Clinton in both New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
“My fellow Democrats — anger and fear had their moment last week,” O’Malley said of the Republican convention in Cleveland. “Now it’s our time! Time to stand up for each other! Stand up for our shared promise! Stand up for the goodness and hope in every American heart! It’s time to put a bully in his place, and a tough woman in hers — the White House!”
