Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton came to Sunday night’s presidential debate in St. Louis prepared to discuss Donald Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” Access Hollywood tape. Her transition from the issue of the tape to the broader issue of Trump’s character was, well, sharp. The transcript:
I spent a lot of time thinking, over the last 48 hours, about what we heard and saw [on the Access Hollywood tape]. You know, with prior Republican nominees for president, I disagreed with them on politics, policies, principals. But I never questioned their fitness to serve.
Donald Trump is different. I said starting back in June that he was not fit to be president and commander in chief. Many Republicans and independents said the same thing. What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women. And he has said that the video didn’t represent who he is. But I think it’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. Because we’ve seen this throughout the campaign. We have seen him insult women. We’ve seen him rate women on their appearance, ranking them from one to ten. We’ve seen him embarrass women on TV and on Twitter. We saw him after the first debate spend nearly a week denigrating a former Miss Universe in the harshest, most personal terms. So yes, this is who Donald Trump is.
But it’s not only women and it’s not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president. Because he has also targeted immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and so many others. So this is who Donald Trump is, and the question for us, the question our country must answer is that this is not who we are. That’s why, to go back to your question, I want to send a message. We all should, to every boy and girl and indeed to the entire world. That America already is great, but we are great because we are good. And we will respect one another and we will work with one another and we will celebrate our diversity. These are very important values to me because this is the America that I know and love. I can pledge to you tonight that this is the America that I will serve if I’m so fortunate enough to become your president.
Read about Trump’s comments on the tape, which he again tried to minimize as “locker-room banter,” here.
