Hillary Clinton returned to her alma mater to give a commencement address that matched the tone and content of her 2016 campaign speeches: Full of attacks on Donald Trump and interrupted by coughing.
Hillary Clinton didn’t pull any punches Friday when she took several jabs at President Trump – at one point even comparing him to Former President Richard Nixon – as she delivered the commencement address at her alma mater, Wellesley College.“When people in power invent their own facts and attack those who question them, it can mark the beginning of the end of a free society,” she said. “That is not hyperbole, it is what authoritarian regimes throughout history have done. … They attempt to control reality.”…Although she didn’t mention him directly by name, the former first lady and Democratic presidential candidate called out several controversies swirling around the Trump administration. She compared his presidency to that of Nixon.”We were furious about the past presidential election of a man whose presidency would eventually end in disgrace with his impeachment for obstruction of justice, after firing the person running the investigation into him at the Department of Justice,” Clinton said, discussing the sentiment on campus the year that she graduated.
It is obvious Clinton did not major in history during her stint at Wellesley. Richard Nixon was not impeached. Her husband, however, is another matter.
At one point, she indicated that chardonnay helped her cope with the shattering election defeat. Then, she proceeded to offer a litany of complaints about the “deplorables” and the man for whom they voted.
“You are graduating at a time when there is a full-fledged assault on truth and reason. Just log on to social media for ten seconds, and it will hit you right in the face. People denying science; concocting elaborate hurtful conspiracy theories about child abuse rings operating out of pizza parlors; drumming up fear about Muslims, minorities, immigrants, turning neighbor against neighbor and sowing division at a time when we desperately need unity. Some are even denying things we see with our own eyes, like the size of crowds,” Clinton said, taking a jab at President Donald Trump. “And then defending themselves by talking about ‘alternative facts.'”
The robotic, droning recitation must have been difficult to endure. However, one of the most uncomfortable moments would probably have been the mid-speech coughing fit, so bad that she needed some water and a throat lozenge.
Surprisingly, she did not blame this hacking on the Russians or President Trump.
After first trying to stifle the cough, Hillary eventually had to stop talking to cough. She was eventually handed a bottle of water by another woman on stage.She then chalked up the cough to allergies.Eventually the fit, which resembled those she had on the campaign trail, subsided and she was able to deliver her speech, in which she predicted Donald Trump would be impeached.The then candidate had frequent coughing fits on the campaign trail last year – which she blamed on pollen.
The social media reaction to the actual speech is mixed, as one might expect. However, some tweets do stand out:
President Donald Trump gave several powerful international speeches this week, including his wonderful “Drive them out” address in Saudi Arabia. Compare those addresses to this one, and imagine if Clinton had been the victor in November.
That thought alone has inspired me to pop open a bottle of chardonnay!
(Note: For those of you interested, the full speech can be viewed HERE).
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