In 1969, Hillary Clinton delivered a now-infamous graduation speech at Wellesley College. In it, she responded, seemingly off-the-cuff, to comments made by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Edward Brooke about how it was pointless, especially for women, to protest the Vietnam War. “We’re not in the positions yet of leadership and power,” she said, “but we do have that indispensable element of criticizing and constructive protest.” Nearly 50 years later, Clinton is again making headlines over comments made at Wellesley.
The former Democratic presidential candidate told students that they’re graduating at a time of a “full-fledged assault on truth and reason.” Clinton continued, “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. That is not hyperbole, it is what authoritarian regimes throughout history have done… They attempt to control reality. Some are even denying things we see with our own eyes, like the size of crowds.”
In case you can’t read between those lines, Clinton also drew a parallel between then, when Richard Nixon was president, and now (Trump was never mentioned by name). “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,” she said to applause. “After firing the person heading the investigation into him at the Department of Justice.”
Clinton also referred to Trump’s recently unveiled budget in Washington, saying it was “an attack of unimaginable cruelty on the most vulnerable among us.”
“It grossly underfunds public education, mental health, and efforts even to combat the opioid epidemic,” she said. She said that, in reversing efforts to combat climate change, “It puts the future of our nation and our world at risk.”
She said it was also “shrouded in a trillion-dollar mathematical lie.”
“Let’s call it what it is: a con. They don’t even try to hide it,” she said. (Via)
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, Trump and Drumpf, though. After insisting that there’s no place “I’d rather be this year than right here,” Clinton said, “You may have heard that things didn’t exactly go the way I planned. But you know what? I’m doing OK.”
Great to hear Hillary using her commencement speech at Wellesley to troll Trump. Good for you, Madam Should-Be-President.#Wellesley2017
— Ron Asher (@rmasher2) May 26, 2017
.@HillaryClinton, you truly are magnificent. So full of wisdom, dignity and just the right amount of shade. #ImStillWithHer #Wellesley2017 pic.twitter.com/3dm6G7WD30
— Emily Connor (@gyroEMILYfeta) May 26, 2017
Hillary Clinton trolling Trump during Wellesley commencement, implicitly comparing him to Nixon amid Watergate.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) May 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/MrDane1982/status/868137452577402880