Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in on how President Donald Trump’s doing as the nation’s commander-in-chief.
And — no surprise — she’s not a fan.
The former secretary of state began a new opinion piece this way: “It’s been nearly two years since Donald Trump won enough Electoral College votes to become president of the United States. On the day after, in my concession speech, I said, ‘We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,'” she wrote in an op-ed published Sunday in The Atlantic.
She noted in a tweet that her thoughts are part of a new afterward to her book “What Happened.”
The former first lady used strong terms to analyze the current administration’s policies.
“In the roughly 21 months since he took the oath of office, Trump has sunk far below the already-low bar he set for himself in his ugly campaign,” she noted. “Exhibit A is the unspeakable cruelty that his administration has inflicted on undocumented families arriving at the border, including separating children, some as young as eight months, from their parents.”
She then turned to the hurricane that damaged Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and moved on to Russian hacking.
“Trump and his cronies do so many despicable things that it can be hard to keep track,” Clinton charged.
“I think that may be the point — to confound us, so it’s harder to keep our eye on the ball. The ball, of course, is protecting American democracy … And right now, our democracy is in crisis.”
My new afterword for "What Happened" is excerpted in @TheAtlantic. It's about the constitutional crisis building in our democracy and why we should all be focused, determined and, yes, optimistic as we work to save our country. https://t.co/HBEvB9919F
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 17, 2018
Clinton then listed five main “assaults” on American democracy.
“First, there is Donald Trump’s assault on the rule of law. John Adams wrote that the definition of a republic is ‘a government of laws, and not of men.’ That ideal is enshrined in two powerful principles: No one, not even the most powerful leader, is above the law, and all citizens are due equal protection under the law.”
She added, “That sounds a lot like Donald Trump. He told The New York Times, ‘I have an absolute right to do what I want to with the Justice Department.’”
The second assault is the legitimacy of U.S. elections, she charged.
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“There’s Russia’s ongoing interference and Trump’s complete unwillingness to stop it or protect us,” she noted in part. “There’s voter suppression, as Republicans put onerous — and I believe illegal — requirements in place to stop people from voting.”
The third assault, in her mind, is a war on “truth and reason.”
“Earlier this month, Trump made 125 false or misleading statements in 120 minutes, according to The Washington Post — a personal record for him (at least since becoming president).”
The fourth assault is what Clinton terms Trump’s “breathtaking corruption.”
“Considering that this administration promised to ‘drain the swamp,’ it’s amazing how blithely the president and his Cabinet have piled up conflicts of interest, abuses of power, and blatant violations of ethics rules,” she alleged.
Fifth, Trump undermines the national unity that makes democracy possible, according to her. “It’s hard to ignore the racial subtext of virtually everything Trump says,” Clinton opined. “Often, it’s not even subtext.”
See Clinton speak on Russian interference in the video below.
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