Hillary Clinton gave her former rival, Donald Trump, a taste of his own medicine when she grinned and nodded as the Democratic National Convention audience chanted, “Lock him up.”
During the 2016 election, Trump led his MAGA base in insulting remarks about Clinton, whom she had to “lock up” because of the scandal surrounding her State Department emails.
On Monday, Clinton addressed Trump’s own legal troubles as she pushed America to finally elect its first female president and threw her strong support behind Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
“As a prosecutor, Kamala has locked up murderers and drug traffickers. She will never rest in defense of our freedom and security,” Clinton said.
“Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial,” she continued. “When he woke up, he had made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.”
From that moment on the crowd took over the signal and started shouting: ‘Lock him up!’
Clinton did nothing to stop this.
Hillary Clinton gave her former rival, Donald Trump, a taste of his own medicine when she grinned and nodded as she opened the Democratic National Convention audience with a “lock him up” slogan
The country’s first female candidate from a major party devoted most of her speech to breaking the glass ceiling.
“Something is happening in America,” she said at the top of her speech. “You can feel it. Something we’ve been working for and dreaming about for a long time.”
She said her mother was born “right here in Chicago,” before women had the right to vote.
“That changed 104 years ago yesterday,” Clinton continued, wearing her signature suffragette white robe. “Since that day, every generation has carried the torch.”
She recalled Shirley Chisholm’s campaign for the White House in 1972 and Geraldine Ferraro’s campaign for vice president in 1984.
“And then there was 2016,” Clinton said.
“It was the honor of my life to accept our party’s nomination for president,” she said. “Nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future where there are no limits to our dreams.”
Hillary Clinton arrives onstage during Monday night’s session of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She wore her signature suffragette white and spoke about women barrier breakers
Yet Clinton lost to Trump.
“Then we refused to give up on America. Millions took to the streets. Many ran for office. We kept our eyes on the future,” she said.
“Well, my friends, the future is here,” the former nominee proclaimed.
“I wish my mom and Kamala’s mom could see us,” she also offered.
She spoke of Harris’ “character, experience and vision” and compared it to Trump’s behavior.
“As commander in chief, Kamala will not disrespect veterans — she will honor our Medal of Honor recipients,” Clinton said, referring to comments Trump made last week in Bedminster. “She certainly won’t be sending love letters to dictators.”
The former secretary of state slammed Trump for “lying about Kamala’s past.”
“He’s making fun of her name and her laugh,” Clinton said. “Sounds familiar,” she said dryly, which made her laugh.
“He’s on the run now,” she continued. “But no matter what the polls say, we can’t give up. We can’t be driven into crazy conspiracy theories. We have to fight for the truth. We have to fight for Kamala, as she fights for us.”
“You know what? It still takes a village,” the former first lady said. “To raise a family, to heal a country, to win a campaign.”
Reflecting on how she ended her 2008 and 2016 campaigns, Clinton said, “Together, we’ve created a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling.”
“Tonight, so close to a breakthrough once and for all, I want to tell you what I see through all those cracks — and why it matters to each of us,” she said. “What do I see? I see freedom.”
“The freedom to make our own decisions about our health, our lives, our loves and our families,” Clinton said.
“I see the freedom to look our children in the eye and say, In America, you can go as far as your hard work and talents take you. And mean it,” she said.
Harris would break barriers as the first female president and the first female president of color.
“On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris taking the oath of office as our 47th President of the United States,” Clinton said to cheers.
“When one of us breaks a barrier, it clears the way for all of us,” she added.
Before leaving the stage, to the sound of the 2016 theme song Fight Song, she explained why she felt this moment was so important.
“I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to know that I was here,” the 76-year-old said. “That we were here. And that we were with Kamala every step of the way.”