Hillary Clinton made her first campaign stop as the presumptive Democratic nominee against the backdrop of the Orlando shootings, promising to make combatting “lone wolf” attacks a “top priority” while taking subtle shots at Donald Trump.
“I had intended to come to Cleveland under very different circumstances,” Clinton told voters, reflecting on the attacks that left 50 people dead at Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning. “Today is not a day for politics.”
Noting that the United States faces an enemy with a “twisted ideology,” Clinton detailed her strategy to take down the Islamic State. She argued America must “be just as adaptable and versatile as our enemies.”
The former secretary of state also said that she would work to protect soft targets such as nightclubs or elementary schools, work to prevent terrorists from obtaining assault weapons and get rid of online and gun show loopholes.
“Now we have to steel our resolve to respond,” Clinton said. “The Orlando terrorist may be dead but the virus that attacked his mind is very much alive. And we must attack it with clear eyes, steady hands, unwavering determination and pride in our country and our values.”
The campaign stop in Ohio is the first rally of the presumptive Democratic nominee’s general election push, as she begins focusing all her energy on defeating presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. Although Clinton did not criticize Trump in her speech by name, she unmistakably hit his rhetoric. “We are not a land of winners and losers,” she said, and that Americans must be “working closely with our partners strengthening our alliances not weakening them or walking away from them.”
“Our open, diverse society is an asset in the struggle against terrorism, not a liability,” Clinton tweeted after her speech, hitting Trump’s proposed Muslim ban. ‘It makes us stronger.”
