MINNEAPOLIS — Dressed in a bright royal blue pantsuit, Hillary Clinton zinged Donald Trump as she reminded assembled Democrats that she is a party loyalist.
Clinton seemed tired, but the reaction from the crowd at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting was anything but. She was greeted by loud screams and standing ovations.
While the Democratic presidential candidates were each allotted seven minutes to speak, Clinton took more than 24 minutes. Nobody seemed to mind. She saved most of her fire for the Republican presidential field.
Clinton slammed the GOP candidates for their “outdated” policies of the past. She denounced their immigration positions especially, a major theme of the DNC event even before she spoke. A DREAMer had opened the event by reciting the pledge of allegiance.
“Look, you hear Mr. Trump say hateful things about immigrants, even about their babies. How many others disagree with him? Or support a real path to citizenship? Or draw the line at repealing the 14th amendment?” Clinton thundered.
“Today,” she added, “the party of Lincoln has become the party of Trump
In order to deport millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States, Clinton suggested that the GOP would throw people into “buses” and “boxcars.” The latter comment was widely seen as a reference to the Holocaust.
“Now all the stuff they say may be red meat in a Republican primary, but it is dead wrong in the 21st century,” Clinton said.
Clinton also fired back over Trump’s campaign trail claim that he knows more about women’s issues than the former first lady. “Now, Trump actually says he would do a better job for women than I would,” she told the crowd. “Now, that’s a general election debate that is going to be a lot of fun.”
By focusing on Trump and the Republicans, Clinton continued her pattern of behaving as if she is already the nominee. The DNC audience mostly treated her that way. When she finally left the stage, the audience chanted her name.
Clinton also mentioned Trump’s hair. At a Thursday campaign event, Trump had a supporter come up to the stage and pull on his hair to prove it was real. Clinton laughed about this incident, saying, “I’ve got to add a lot of people have said things about my hair over the years so I know how it feels.”
