Early in Sunday night’s presidential debate, Anderson Cooper directly confronted Donald Trump about the leaked recordings that threw his campaign into turmoil this weekend — accurately pointing out that in the recordings, Trump “bragged” that he had “sexually assaulted women.”
In typical fashion, Trump’s response avoided responsibility, minimizing the remarks as “locker room talk.”
But Hillary Clinton’s response to Trump’s non-response was morally forceful, suggesting she’d given a lot of thought about the appropriate way to address the leaked audio to a large audience at the debate.
Clinton began by saying she’d started calling Trump unfit for office back in June, and cited prominent Republicans who had said the same. She went on to say that the recorded remarks “represent exactly who [Trump] is,” but that it isn’t just the tapes — it’s also Trump’s long record of racism and other bigotry.
She continued:
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 doesn't represent who he is. But I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly what 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 10. 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 raise questions about his fitness to be our president. Because he has also targeted immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, Muslims, and others.
“America is great, and we are great because we are good,” Clinton said. “And we will work with one another and we will celebrate our diversity.”
