Three million more of us heard her loud and clear
This article was made possible because of the generous support of DAME members. We urgently need your help to keep publishing. Will you contribute just $5 a month to support our journalism?
Bigotry was a feature, not a bug, of Trump’s campaign for President. And it followed into every corner of the Trump administration, from the notoriously racist Attorney General Jeff Sessions to the Commander-in-Chief himself (look no further than his horrendous remarks on Charlottesville).
While some are now musing about who could have foreseen this dumpster fire of a presidency…
In Retrospect: Is There Anyone Who Could Have Predicted Where We Are Today? https://t.co/wO67efq5sh
— RedState (@RedState) August 16, 2017
…the rest of us have at least one obvious answer: Hillary Clinton.
As former Clinton aides watched Trump’s staggering presser, they had one overarching feeling: HRC tried to warn us https://t.co/yA8gkVX2wz
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) August 16, 2017
As former HFA campaign staffer Emmy Bengtson wrote on Twitter, “We would much, much rather be wrong”, and that’s what makes our current reality so gut-wrenching: The warnings were as clear as day, but largely ridiculed or ignored by a mostly-white mainstream media.
As Trump’s problems mount, the media’s obsession with Clinton’s email server–literally the most-covered issue of 2016–
looks worse & worse.— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 17, 2017
And the former Secretary of State’s Twitter feed from 2016 reads like a window into the 2017 future. In June, 2016, Clinton called out his attacks on Judge Curiel.
Q: “Saying [a judge] can’t do his job because of his race—is that not the definition of racism?”
Trump: “No.” pic.twitter.com/IWNshV7XMc— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 3, 2016
It’s time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And they make him unfit to be President of the United States.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 4, 2016
In August 2016, Clinton dedicated a speech in Reno, Nevada to Trump legitimizing hate groups.
In August ’16, Clinton devoted an entire speech to warning how Trump was emboldening hate groups and white supremacists pic.twitter.com/3Qa1Ad8TtA
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 12, 2017
From December 2016: “I am more proud of HRC’s alt-right speech than any other moment on the campaign trail.” https://t.co/4YPnZwRFxe
— Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) August 13, 2017
December 1, 2016 pic.twitter.com/RIn0FA6cbo
— Marv (@marvien_) August 12, 2017
In September 2016, Clinton reminded us of Trump’s role in birtherism and how his campaign worked to normalize white supremacists.
“We know who Donald is. For five years, he has led the birther movement to de-legitimize our first black president.” —Hillary
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2016
Trump and Pence’s courting of white supremacists isn’t a game: It’s normalizing racism. And it’s deplorable. pic.twitter.com/91UqoXW7Z6
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 13, 2016
The list goes on. We can’t change the results of the 2016 election, but hopefully we can learn the right lessons from it. Including, but not limited to, listening to women. And most importantly:
When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Trump has shown us who he is.https://t.co/7ZIcpDr1Iv
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 24, 2016