Hillary Clinton: “This is not who we are”

From last night’s debate, courtesy of PBS NewsHour and Fusion:

Secretary Clinton on Donald Trump’s fitness to lead our country:

…it’s not only women and it’s not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president. Because he has also targeted immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims, and so many others. So, this is who Donald Trump is, and the question for us, the question our country must answer is that this is not who we are.

Full comment:

Well, like everyone else, I spent a lot of time thinking over the last 48 hours about what we heard and saw.

You know, with prior Republican nominees for president, I disagreed with them. Politics, policies, principles. But I never questioned their fitness to serve.

Donald Trump is different. I said starting back in June, that he was not fit to be president and commander-in-chief. And many Republicans and independents have said the same thing.

What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women.

And he has said that the video doesn’t represent who he is. But I think it’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. Because we’ve seen this throughout the campaign. We have seen him insult women. We’ve seen him rate women on their appearance, ranking them from one to ten. We’ve seen him embarrass women on TV and on Twitter. We saw him after the first debate spend nearly a week denigrating a former Miss Universe in the harshest, most personal terms. So, yes, this is who Donald Trump is.

But it’s not only women and it’s not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president. Because he has also targeted immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims, and so many others. So, this is who Donald Trump is, and the question for us, the question our country must answer is that this is not who we are.

That’s why, to go back to your question, I want to send a message—we all should—to every boy and girl and indeed to the entire world, that America already is great. And we are great, because we are good, and we will respect one another, and we will work with one another, and we will celebrate our diversity.

These are very important values to me because this is the America that I know and love. And I can pledge to you tonight that this is the America that I will serve if I’m so fortunate enough to become your president.

2 Comments

  1. The Republican Party standard bearer has shown us who he, and his party, really are. Believe them!

  2. Rebecca Traister:

    ” “Women are to be championed and revered,” said Ryan, making women sound like quailing damsels or icy goddesses, but not actual humans. Mitch McConnell expressed his disapproval as “the father of three daughters,” while Pence said in a statementthat he was offended “as a husband and a father” and Romney railed that Trump’s comments “demean our wives and daughters.” Here is their apprehension of women: They are discernible as worthy of respect only as extensions of male identity — as wives, daughters, their recognizable subsidiaries. Has none of these men ever had a female colleague or friend on whose behalf they might reasonably be offended? Are they not moved by the treatment of women even with whom they have had no personal interaction?”

    ” Republicans are not separate from Trump, and he is not distinct from Republican nature or motivation; he is its slightly more unruly twin. ”
    [Trump’s One Service Was Exposing the Misogyny of the GOP]
    http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/trumps-one-service-was-exposing-the-misogyny-of-the-gop.html?mid=twitter_cut

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