In Las Vegas, Clinton Continues Closing Argument, Asks Voters To Consider The Damage to Our Democracy If Trump Is Elected
At a speech in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton continued her closing argument by asking voters to consider what life would be like under a Donald Trump presidency. Trump’s demeaning view of African-Americans, insulting comments towards women, proposals to ban Muslims and more would have the full weight of the presidency behind them if voters don’t reject his candidacy next Tuesday, Clinton said. Given Trump’s unfitness to be Commander in Chief and his refusal to commit to accept the results of the election, Clinton added, Trump threatens not only American prosperity but the very heart of our democracy itself. Clinton said to potential Trump supporters, “Donald Trump has shown us the kind of person he is and the kind of president he would be, how he treats people he doesn’t like, how he perceives large groups of Americans, how he’s conducted his business with so little regard for workers and contractors. He’s used every trick in the book to get out of paying taxes, someone who says he’s worth billions but contributes zero – zero to our military and zero to our vets and zero to Pell Grants, zero to highways, zero to everything. And we know how he thinks and acts toward women. […] And nothing will change if he’s elected because we know who he is. As Michelle Obama says, the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.”
Clinton detailed her proposals for “a different kind of future”: tackling the threat of climate change; making college affordable; passing comprehensive immigration reform and building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. Clinton asked the crowd to choose this positive vision and cited record voter participation numbers – 200 million people registered to vote and more than 30 million people having early voted – as proof Americans are more engaged than ever in this election and that Republicans, Democrats and Independents are poised to unite against Trump’s divisive candidacy.</span>
Clinton said, “We believe in an America that is great because it is good, an America where women are respected, where immigrants are welcomed, where veterans are honored, where parents are supported, where workers are paid fairly, where marriage is a right, where discrimination is wrong, where everyone counts and everyone has a place. I will do my best to bring people together, not pull them apart. So please, let’s get out! Let’s work these last six days! Let’s make sure that we win on Tuesday and we prove love trumps hate!”
Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below: “Hello, hello! Wow, it’s great to be here. And I am incredibly honored and excited to be sharing a platform with two extraordinary people, someone who I hope will be your next senator. Catherine needs your help. She needs your votes. But she’s already shown what she will do – she will fight for you when she gets to the United States Senate. I want to thank Tom Perez, who has been working so hard to improve conditions for workers across America. I’m delighted he could be here with us today. I want to thank my longtime friend, Representative Dina Titus, who is also with us. I also want to recognize our entire crew here. People are going to go out and do canvassing. I want to thank Carmen Larue for speaking on the pre-program. I want to acknowledge Dee Taylor, president of UNITE HERE. And I want to thank the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 525.
Before I get into my remarks about what’s at stake in this election and thanking you for what you’re doing to bring out the vote, I want to say just a few words. I want to say a few words about the two police officers who were killed in the line of duty in Iowa. This is horrifying, heartbreaking. It is totally unacceptable. I have spoken with the mayors of the two cities where it happened, Des Moines and Urbandale. I also had a chance to talk to the chief of police in Urbandale. I certainly expressed our condolences and told them that my thoughts and prayers were with the families of the fallen officers and with their fellow officers.
As president, I will bring the full weight of the law down on anyone who kills a police officer and see to it that they are brought to justice. I also believe that everyone is safer when the police respect the people they protect and when the people respect the police who serve them. And we have got to get back to showing respect and support for each other. And we also must do much more. I have been speaking with police chiefs and mayors and law enforcement officers across America, and I ask them if there’s one thing – one thing – that you need, what is it? And they said, we need help to deal with people who have mental health problems. I hear it across America, and we’re going to do something about both mental health and addiction when I am your president.
Now, those are just some of the reasons why, with just six days left, this may be the most important election in our lifetimes. How many of you have already voted? I thank you. I thank you for that, and I thank you for being here to volunteer, to get out as many votes as possible in early voting. Nevada has a big role to play in choosing our next president and commander-in-chief. I’ve spent 30 years of my life fighting for children and families. It is the cause of my life. I helped to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program when I was First Lady. I helped New York recover after the horrible attacks of 9/11 and got healthcare for our brave first responders. I fought to bring jobs to parts of New York that were left behind. As your Secretary of State, I traveled to 112 countries. I negotiated ceasefires. I reduced the threat of nuclear weapons. And I fought for American businesses and stood up for human rights, women’s rights, and LGBT rights around the world.
And I have to say that everything I have ever been able to do has been because I’ve listened to people and that I’ve tried to bring them together to find common ground. Even with people who disagree with me on a lot of issues, you don’t provide healthcare for kids by working with Democrats and Republicans if you say, ‘My way or the highway.’ You say, ‘Here’s our problem. What are we going to do? How are we going to work together?’ I really believe that’s the only way we can get things done, whether you’re in a union, in a business, whether you’re working here in Nevada or anywhere else across America. And if you elect me next Tuesday, I will be a president who seeks to find common ground while standing my ground on those issues that are really important for the American people.
And so from the first day of this campaign, I have been putting forth ideas about how to help you and your families get ahead and stay ahead. I want to tear down all of the barriers that are blocking you from fulfilling your own potential, getting your own piece of the American dream. And I truly believe you deserve a candidate that you can vote for, not just someone to vote against.
So I have tried to run a campaign of ideas, a campaign based on issues, a campaign focused on you and your families. That’s why I think this choice could not be bigger and more different than between me and my opponent, because here’s what’s going to happen, my friends. On January 20th, either I or Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next president of the United States. Now, I know. I know that those of you in this room don’t want him to become president, but let’s face – let’s face the facts. A lot of Americans are voting for him. Right? A lot of people are still considering who to vote for. I think people who are considering voting for him say to themselves, ‘I don’t like everything he says, and I don’t like a lot of things he’s done in his life. But maybe he’ll become different when he becomes president.’ And then I think some people are saying, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just sit this one out.’ ‘I don’t – I can’t really make up my mind. I don’t know who is really going to help me and my family.’
And I think those of you who are out there on the phones for me, canvassing for me, talking to your friends and your coworkers, you know what an important choice this is. And you have six days to convince everybody you can talk to to get out and vote. Now, here is something I hope you will try with the people you’re talking to. I’m asking Americans to do this, too. Now, just take some time and think. Imagine that on January 20th, 2017, it is Donald Trump standing in front of our Capitol and taking the oath of office. Now, remember, because on January 20th, we are going to have a new president. And things are going to change. That’s for sure. The question is, what kind of change are we going to have? Are we going to build a fairer, stronger, better America or are we going to fear the future and each other?”
AUDIENCE: “No!”
HILLARY CLINTON: “Imagine with me what it would be like to have Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office come next January –”
AUDIENCE: “No!”
HILLARY CLINTON: “– someone who demeans women, mocks the disabled, insults Latinos and African Americans. What would it be like to have that person in the most powerful office in the world? What would it be like to have a president who pits people against each other, who doesn’t try to pull America together? What would your life be like if he were in the White House?
And the truth is, the truth is, we really don’t have to guess. We just have to look at everything he has said and done in his career and in this campaign. It’s a good preview of what would likely happen. The great Maya Angelou said, ‘When someone shows you who he is, believe him the first time.’ Right? If you add up, if you add up, all of the people and all of the groups of people that he has insulted and demeaned, it makes up way more than half of America.
Like if you’re an immigrant or your parents or grandparents – like my grandfather was an immigrant. You know how you will be treated and what you will be thought of. We’d have a president who has shown very clearly how he feels about immigrants from the very first day of his campaign. He’s promised to round up millions of immigrants and kick them out, even if that means tearing apart families and hurting our economy.
If you’re Latino, you know what life would be like because we’d have a president who doesn’t see you as American at all. He went after a distinguished federal judge born in Indiana who said Donald said he couldn’t be trusted to do his job because he was, quote, ‘a Mexican.’ That judge is as American as Donald Trump. Now, his parents may have been born in Mexico, but what in the world does that have anything to do with?
If you’re African American, you know what life would be like. You’d have a president who thinks the lives of black people are all crime and poverty and despair. He has no idea of the strength of the black church or the vibrancy of black-owned businesses or the excellence of historically black colleges and universities and the success of black Americans and every leader – leaders in every profession and every walk of life. He doesn’t have a clue.
And if you’re Muslim, you know what life would be like. We’d have a president who views people of your faith with deep suspicion and who wants to ban every Muslim in the world from ever coming to the United States and wants to undo a core tenet of our Constitution. In this country, we defend religious freedom. That brought many people to our shores.
Now, we also have seen him insult nearly everybody else, too. And the thing that is so shocking to me is, no matter who you are, what your background is, if you don’t fit into a very narrow category of people that he can relate to, then, somehow, you don’t have a part in Trump’s America. That really bothers me.
Now, if you’re not Mexican American or African American or Latino or Muslim or an immigrant, you might say to yourself, ‘Well, hey. Well, maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with me,’ but it does because you’re an American. And in America, we don’t like other people being treated unfairly. We don’t like other people being judged superficially. And you can know all you need to know about Donald Trump by just looking at how he treats people. If you’re a proud union member, you know what your life would be like? This is a man who just last year tried again and again to block a union at his hotel right here in Las Vegas, a man who says wages are too high and wants to get rid – get rid – of the national minimum wage – who has no idea how much hardworking American families need a raise. And if you’re a small business owner, you also know what kind of president he will be, because he’s made his fortune off the backs of people just like you. He refuses to pay contractors and workers. He often offers them pennies on the dollar for work they’ve already done. And he says, ‘If you don’t like it, take me to court.’ There are people who had to declare bankruptcy, lay off their workers, close their shops forever because they did work for him and he wouldn’t pay them. This should be disqualifying for the job of running the American economy.
And if you’re a member of our armed forces, you know too, because we would have a commander-in-chief who is not only completely out of his depth but whose ideas are incredibly dangerous. He actually says more countries should have nuclear weapons and he actually talks about using them if he were president. A few days ago in Ohio, a man named Bruce Blair introduced me at a rally. As a young Air Force Officer, Bruce Blair’s job was to sit in an underground bunker in Montana to be ready to launch nuclear weapons if the president ever gave the order. So when he hears Donald Trump talk so casually about using nuclear weapons, it chills him to the bone. He knows our commander-in-chief needs to be steady, not reckless; rational, not hot-headed. And that’s why he and dozens of former launch officers like him have come out in strong support of my campaign. And I am grateful for that. But it doesn’t stop there, because Donald Trump calls our military a disaster. He says he knows more than the generals, he’s insulted prisoners of war, he says he likes people who don’t get captured. And he attacked a Gold Star family whose son was an Army captain who died saving his men from a suicide attack.
And just think – just think about what life would be like for women and girls. Our girls would grow up with a president who proudly ranks women by their looks, who brags about doing things to them without their consent. Just imagine what that might do to young girls and women’s confidence and self-worth, and imagine how it will affect our boys to grow up with a president who talks and acts like that.
And on top of everything else, he refuses even to say he will accept the results of the election. After going on the insult attack against so many people, I guess his final target is democracy itself. Now, I want everyone to know that I respect the choice you make. We were on the debate stage right here in Las Vegas for the last debate and we were asked if we would respect the outcome of the election. I will. He refused to say he would. That has never happened in American history before. Donald Trump has shown us the kind of person he is and the kind of president he would be, how he treats people he doesn’t like, how he perceives large groups of Americans, how he’s conducted his business with so little regard for workers and contractors. He’s used every trick in the book to get out of paying taxes, someone who says he’s worth billions but contributes zero – zero to our military and zero to our vets and zero to Pell Grants, zero to highways, zero to everything. And we know how he thinks and acts toward women.
So as you think about this decision, as you talk with people to help convince them to come out and vote, remind them what’s at stake in this choice.”
AUDIENCE: “Everything.”
HILLARY CLINTON: “Everything, everything. And nothing will change if he’s elected because we know who he is. As Michelle Obama says, the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are. Right now, right now, people across the country are coming together to vote for a different kind of future. I’m very encouraged because they are rejecting his dark and divisive vision for one that is hopeful and inclusive. We know that America is big-hearted, not small-minded. Right? Here in this home of the UA, we know that we want to lift people up, not tear each other down. We know we are stronger together.
So I want you to tell everybody, here’s what we’re going to do if they join us. If you’re having a hard time paying for college, I’ve got a real plan to help you. We’re going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for millions of families, and we’re going to help you pay back your debt so that you can get out from under the burden. And if you care about climate change, which he says is a hoax, I have a plan to increase renewable energy, create millions of jobs, help communities prepare for the effects of extreme weather. And if you care about immigration reform, you know what he thinks. I am going to be introducing comprehensive immigration reform within the first 100 days. And if you care about defeating the terrorists and reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world and keeping our country safe, I know what we have to do. I am ready to take on the threats that we face at home and abroad.
On the day that we brought Osama bin Laden to justice, I was in the Situation Room monitoring what our brave men were doing to make it clear that we don’t let anybody attack us. It may take a while, but we will keep going after them. Donald Trump was hosting ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ So you think about what we have to do. I will do everything in my power to keep us safe.
And if you care about LGBT rights, he wants to undo marriage equality. We believe that people should be respected and have dignity and have the right to marry, and so we’re going to keep working to protect the rights of women, to make sure that Planned Parenthood is not defunded. And we’re going to try to save lives in America by working with responsible gun owners and the vast majority of Americans to take steps to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people, or domestic abusers, of felons. So let’s protect lives. Right?
So here’s what we’ve got to do. If you care about workers, you know what he thinks about unions. I will defend your rights. I believe that when unions are strong, America is strong. So think about any issue you care about. It is on the ballot. It may be my name and his name, but it’s on the ballot. So we know what we have to do.”
AUDIENCE: “Vote!
HILLARY CLINTON: “You got to vote, and you got to get everybody to vote. We have 200 million Americans registered to vote. That’s a record, including 50 million young people, more than ever. And more than 31 million people have already voted early. And that includes a half a million people right here in Nevada. And when I leave here I’ll be going to Arizona because we are going to fight hard in Arizona. And I understand since 1948 they’ve only voted for a Democrat for President once, and that was for my husband in 1996. So Bill and I love Arizona, and it’s close and competitive. And it’s going to be a great honor in these last six days across this country because this, my friends, is not a normal election.
AUDIENCE: “No!”
HILLARY CLINTON: “Right? And millions of people – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – are standing up and saying, we believe in an America that is great because it is good, an America where women are respected, where immigrants are welcomed, where veterans are honored, where parents are supported, where workers are paid fairly, where marriage is a right, where discrimination is wrong, where everyone counts and everyone has a place. I will do my best to bring people together, not pull them apart. So please, let’s get out! Let’s work these last six days! Let’s make sure that we win on Tuesday and we prove love trumps hate! Thank you!”
Let's build a BIG BLUE WALL and Make Donald Trump pay for his lies, shady cronyism, and innuendo!
