Trump Capitalizes on Hillary’s Absence from Campaign

Donald Trump spoke in Asheville, N.C., on Monday night, blasting Hillary Clinton for running a “campaign of hate” while presenting his own vision of hope. Trump made clear he will capitalize on the chance to redefine both Clinton and the presidential contest while she lays low somewhere — allegedly recovering from pneumonia.

“Hillary Clinton has been running a hate-filled and negative campaign, with no policy, no solutions and no new ideas,” Trump said while the crowd booed the reference to Clinton. “By contrast, I have been going around the country offering very detailed plans for change.”

“Hillary Clinton has been running a hate-filled and negative campaign, with no policy, no solutions and no new ideas,” Trump said.

It was an unenviable weekend for Clinton. The Democratic presidential candidate rhetorically stumbled on Friday when she said half of Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables,” calling many of them racist and bigoted.

Then, at a Sunday event, Clinton was rushed away from a commemoration event on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Clinton took sick, and her campaign admitted she had pneumonia. Clinton has since scrapped her public campaign events slated for this week.

Clinton’s fresh disappearance from the campaign trail has given Trump a crucial opportunity to flip the script in her absence. Earlier in the day Monday, Trump cast the race as a choice between “powerful insiders” who attack people “who have no political power,” and a leader who wishes to represent all Americans.

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On Monday in Asheville Trump continued that effort and blasted Clinton for running a negative, hateful campaign.

“While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hard-working American patriots who love your country and want a better future for all our people,” said Trump. “You are mothers and fathers, soldiers and sailors, carpenters and welders … You are everybody. You are Democrats, you’re independents, you’re Republicans. Above all else, you are Americans and you are entitled … to leadership that honors you and cherishes you and totally defends you and that is what you are going to get, if you vote for Donald Trump.”

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It’s a tact the campaign as a whole is employing too. In warming up the crowd, former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani told the crowd that Clinton was running a mean and cruel campaign.

“It’s almost as if she’s not running,” said Guiliani. The only person running is Donald Trump. There’s no reason to vote for her.”

Trump also let members of the crowd speak, indirectly, to Clinton, bringing several up on stage.

“My wife and I represent non-deplorable people,” said a older black man, standing with his wife. “I and my wife have spent 85 years in education, combined. We are not racist at all. We don’t even fit on that list she put out.”

“Let’s get out and support Donald Trump,” the man’s wife said.