In her most direct attack yet on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton accused the Republican nominee for President of running a campaign based on 'a steady stream of bigotry,' as she charged the real estate mogul was using 'discredited conspiracy theories' to stoke the anger of his supporters.
"From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia," Clinton said.
"This is someone who re-tweets white supremacists," Clinton told an audience in Reno, Nevada, as she said a "fringe element has effectively taken over Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party."
"Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters," Clinton added.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Clinton invoked the names of two high profile Republicans - Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas - as she noted how Republicans were uneasy with some of Trump's claims, like one that said Cruz's father was somehow involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
It was the first public speech by Clinton in over a week, after she had spent recent days focused more on fundraising than campaign stops.
On social media, the Clinton campaign was even more direct using video of the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke to say that white nationalist groups want Trump to win the White House.
Clinton's speech came just after a stop in New Hampshire by Trump, where he accused Clinton of using an old Democratic Party trick - playing the race card - to accuse Republicans of being racists.
"When Democratic policies fail, they are left with only this one tired argument. It’s the last refuge of the discredited politician," Trump said on the other side of the country from Clinton.
But that did not deter Clinton, who dredged up old lawsuits that charged Trump with discrimination against black and Hispanic apartment dwellers, and more.
"There has been a steady stream of bigotry coming from him," Clinton said, a day after Trump had accused her of being a bigot.
Clinton also addressed some of the attacks from Trump and other Republicans about her health, ridiculing GOP stories as part of another line of conspiracy theories about her.
"His latest paranoid fever dream is about my health," Clinton said to laughter from the crowd, as she noted that some supermarket tabloids had predicted she would be dead by now.
"All I can say is, Donald, dream on," Clinton said to cheers.
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