‘We have him on the run now’: Hillary Clinton slams Trump during DNC speech

https://youtu.be/tAqtCWu8i2c?si=SRMKWA3lLO_AgfzF

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Democratic national convention 2024

Hillary Clinton takes jabs at Trump and pins hope on Harris to ‘break through’ glass ceiling

Former presidential candidate gives one of most powerful speeches of career at first night of Democratic convention

Ed Pilkington in Chicago

Tue 20 Aug 2024 13.54 AEST

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Hillary Clinton gave one of the most powerful speeches of her career in politics on Monday as she implored American voters finally to crack the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” that had eluded her so bitterly eight years ago.

In a rousing 15-minute speech at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, Clinton returned to the theme that she intended to invoke in a victory speech on election night, 8 November 2016. That speech was never delivered, the glass ceiling standing firm in the wake of her shock defeat to Donald Trump.

But what she had failed to attain was within the grasp of Kamala Harris, only the second woman to be nominated at the top of a major party presidential ticket.

And the man who had derided and humiliated Clinton on the campaign trail back in 2016, mocking her as “Crooked” and “Lyin’ Hillary”, was now on the defensive. “We have him on the run now,” Clinton said.

Reveling in the chance to turn the tables on Trump, Clinton drew a parallel between the slights she endured at the hands of the Republican candidate in 2016 and the insults he continues to hurl at Harris in 2024. “It is no surprise that he is lying about Kamala’s record, he is mocking her name and her laugh. Sounds familiar?”

Clinton compared Trump’s record as a convicted felon with Harris’s as a former prosecutor. “As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murders and drug traffickers. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial.”

At that moment the thousands of Democratic delegates amassed on the DNC floor spontaneously burst into chants of “Lock him up! Lock him up!” It was an ironic echo of the chant that was repeatedly directed against Clinton by Trump supporters, with his blessing, in 2016.

Clinton, with the diplomacy behoving a former secretary of state, made no comment. But the way she nodded her head in synch to the chants spoke volumes.

Clinton made little effort to hide that for her the hope of pushing Harris into the White House as the first female US president was profoundly personal. “We are so close to breaking through once and for all,” she said, conjuring up the image of Harris raising her hand “on the other side of that glass ceiling” to take the presidential oath of office.

“This is our time America. This is when we stand up, this is when we break through.”

But her vision was also historical. She set it in the context of her mother, Dorothy Howell, born in 1919, a year before American women got the vote.

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Aug 19, 2024 -

Politics & Policy

Hillary Clinton taunts Trump: "We have him on the run"

Sareen Habeshian

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Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waves as she arrives on stage to speak on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party's nomination for president at th

Hillary Clinton in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 19. Photo: by Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP via Getty Images

Hillary Clinton thanked President Biden for being "democracy's champion" while taking aim at former President Trump during a speech on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday that also lauded Kamala Harris.

The big picture: The former Secretary of State, who was herself the first woman to win a major party's nomination, is putting her weight behind Harris to help her become the first woman president in U.S. history.

"The future is here," Clinton said. "On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand, and taking the oath office," she added.

"When a barrier falls from one of us. It falls and clears the way for all of us."

What else she's saying: Clinton praised Harris and her integrity, saying she "has the character, experience and vision to lead us forward."

The former Democratic presidential candidate said she and the current candidate "both got our start as young lawyers helping children who were abused or neglected."

She added: "That kind of work changes a person. Those kids stay with you. Kamala carries with her the hopes of every child she protected, every family she helped, every community she served."

Zoom in: Clinton took jabs at her longtime foe, saying, "Just look at the candidates. Kamala cares about kids, families and cares about America. Donald only cares about himself."

She said Trump has "made his own kind of history" as "the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions."

The audience could be heard chanting "lock him up."

"We have him on the run now," Clinton added.

Clinton alluded to Trump's gender-driven insults of her in the 2016 race and how he's doing the same to Harris. "He's mocking her name and her laugh. Sounds familiar," Clinton said.

Zoom out: The Harris-Trump race is the first since 1976 without at least one member of the Bush, Clinton or Biden families on the ballot.

What we're watching: Clinton is set to release a new book next month entitled "Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty," just seven weeks before the election

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