Hillary Clinton unloaded on President Donald Trump on Tuesday, charging her former presidential rival with being racist, sexist and anti gay rights.
‘He has been racist, he’s been sexist, he’s been Islamophobic, he has been anti-LGBTQ, I mean, there’s a long list,’ she told the Atlantic Events Festival.
She specifically cited his behavior in the wake of Charlottesville riots in 2017, which were provoked when a white supremacist group marched through the city to oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate war hero Robert E. Lee.
‘He has been racist, he’s been sexist, he’s been Islamophobic, he has been anti-LGBTQ, I mean, there’s a long list,’ Hillary Clinton said of Trump
Clinton had harsh words for Donald Trump on Tuesday
Clinton said Trump’s response to events in Charlottesville last year showed his character
Violence escalated when counter protestors joined the march, leaving over 30 injured and one person killed.
‘I think he has thrown his lot in with many people and groups whose stated objection is white nationalism, white supremacy, how could you explain what he did and why after Charlottesville?,’ Clinton said.
Trump was criticized for his remarks after the rally, which were interpreted as showing sympathy to the white nationals.
In his initial statement.Trump did not denounce white nationalists explicitly, but condemned the ‘hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.’ He later referred to ‘very fine people on both sides.’
But Clinton declined an opportunity to analyze Trump’s motives or mental state.
Neo Nazis, Alt-Right, and White Supremacists encircle counter protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va., on August 11, 2017
Clinton talked to The Atlantic magazine in Washington D.C. on Tuesday
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at his inauguration
‘I don’t think it’s helpful to say we’ve figured out what he is. He has a view of America that is very restrictive. He talks to that America. He talks to them all the time. It’s by no means a majority as we know but it is a very hard core who is responding to him and supporting him for a variety of reasons,’ she said.
‘He has a view of America that is incredibly constricted and he talks to that America,’ she added.
Clinton also got in a dig at her rival’s inauguration, which she attended with her husband, saying there really weren’t that many people in attendance.
‘I’ve been to every inauguration since 1993,’ she said, referring to Bill Clinton’s first inauguration.
‘There weren’t that many people there let’s be honest,’ she said of Trump’s January swearing-in.
‘You’re just trolling him,’ said Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, who was doing the questioning.
Trump was said to be angry at reports more people attended Barack Obama’s inauguration than his.
She also got in some cracks at Trump’s expense
A combination of photos taken at the National Mall shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (L) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009
Clinton did concede not everything Trump does is bad
‘It’s not like everything he does all day is bad. There are things that occasionally, much to my surprise do pop up and say, OK,’ Clinton said
One of Sean Spicer’s first acts as White House press secretary was to denounce the media for those reports.
Subsequent photos of the two events showed larger crowds for Obama’s ceremony.
But, Clinton, conceded, not everything Trump does is bad.
‘It’s not like everything he does all day is bad. There are things that occasionally, much to my surprise do pop up and say, OK,’ she said.