Hillary Clinton mused at a Florida rally today that her GOP opponent would have likely called the first president of the United States a “loser.”
Democrats are swamping the swing state as early voting began on Monday. President Obama will stump for Hillary in Orlando on Friday; Jennifer Lopez will play a get-out-the-vote concert for Clinton in Miami on Saturday.
But as Clinton was rallying supporters in Coconut Creek, Fla., today, Donald Trump was holding a competing event in the Million Air Hangar at Orlando Sanford International Airport, with a later stop planned outside the Tallahassee Car Museum.
“This is serious. You know, on January 20th, the first thing a president does is to take an oath to preserve, protect the Constitution, and I have serious doubts about whether Donald Trump even understands what that means,” Clinton said.
“In America, we don’t say we’re going to keep you in suspense about whether we will respect the outcome of an election. We have free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power. That is one thing that makes American great, it makes America who we are,” she continued.
“And we don’t impose religious tests at our borders because we are a country that was founded on religious liberty. And we don’t punish newspapers or journalists that try to cover the news or are critical of politicians, or threaten to restrict the First Amendment, because our democracy depends on a free press. And we don’t incite violence and turn people against each other. We respect the open exchange of ideas that a democracy depends on.”
Clinton added that “there is a reason why America is the greatest and longest lasting democracy the world has ever known, because we believe that no matter what you look like or where your parents were born or who you love, you have the right to be treated equally and fairly in the United States.”
“And Donald Trump is attacking everything that has set our country apart for 240 years,” she said. “…We are not going to change the fundamental values that made America the greatest nation in the history of the world.”
“You know, I think it all started — I think this all started when George Washington refused to become a king. Right? Now, Donald Trump probably would have called him a loser. Instead, that was one of the most important decisions any president has ever made. Eight years, it’s time to move on. We fought a revolution so that we would not have a king. We would not be subjects, we would be independent citizens. I cherish that idea.”
Clinton further accused Trump of “making an unprecedented attack on our democracy.”
At a Monday rally in Tampa, Trump said “the best evidence that the system is rigged is the fact that Hillary Clinton, despite her many crimes, was even allowed to run for president in the first place.”
Trump encouraged supporters to take advantage of early voting “or this whole thing, you know, the movement that they’re all talking about all over the world, it won’t be the same, folks. We’re not going to be able to do what we wanted to do.”
“…You know, this is a movement like they have never seen in our country before, never seen. The great pundits and, frankly, some of them aren’t so great, but there has never been a political phenomena like what we’re doing right now and we’re all part of it. And we have to finish it off, so get out and vote.”
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