Hillary Clinton slammed the nearly 2-year-old leadership of President Donald Trump on Sunday night, saying her former opponent had done “so many despicable things that it can be hard to keep track.”
“I think that may be the point — to confound us, so it’s harder to keep our eye on the ball,“ Clinton wrote in a lengthy op-ed, published in The Atlantic. “The ball, of course, is protecting American democracy. As citizens, that’s our most important charge. And right now, our democracy is in crisis.”
In her piece, the former Democratic presidential nominee also decried the administration’s continued detention of thousands of migrant children, Trump’s refusal to accept the death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the White House’s unwillingness to protect American elections ahead of November’s midterms.
Her comments come less than two months before the midterms, where Democrats are hoping a blue wave could shift the balance of power in one or both chambers of Congress.
Several high-profile races, once expected to go firmly Republican, have become contentious in recent months, including the bid for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R) seat.
Clinton urged voters to head to the polls later this year, but also leveled a pointed attack at current GOP leaders, saying the party had become increasingly radicalized and irresponsible.
“Whether it was abusing the filibuster and stealing a Supreme Court seat, gerrymandering congressional districts to disenfranchise African Americans, or muzzling government climate scientists, Republicans were undermining American democracy long before Trump made it to the Oval Office,” she wrote. “Now we must do all we can to save our democracy and heal our body politic.”
Clinton’s not the only high profile Democrat who is trying to encourage people to head to the polls. Last week, President Barack Obama urged supporters at a rally in Cleveland, Ohio, to “come through” in November and cast their ballots for a slate of Democrats running for office around the country.
“We can tip the balance of power back to the American people,” Obama declared at the event, one of several he’s expected to campaign at during the run-up to the midterms. “Because you are the only check on bad policy. You’re the only real check on abuses of power, it’s you and your vote. And that is why I’m here.”
During his presidency, Trump has continued to regularly attack Clinton and tout his Electoral College victory, despite losing the popular vote by millions.