CHICAGO — Former President Bill Clinton mocked Republican nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday night, calling him a narcissist obsessed with petty concerns that have nothing to do with everyday Americans’ problems.
Speaking at the Democratic National Convention, Clinton contrasted Trump’s obsession with crowd size with Vice President Kamala Harris’ focus on improving lives.
“It seems to me that we have a pretty clear choice in 2024,” Clinton told the crowd at the United Center.
“I will serve the people. The other Harris will serve me and myself,” she added.
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If Harris wins in November, she will become the first woman president and shatter what Hillary Clinton, Clinton’s wife and former Secretary of State, called the “highest, solidest glass ceiling” when she lost to Trump eight years ago.
During her primetime address to the crowd, Hillary Clinton stood between the couple’s daughter, Chelsea, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who looked on from the audience and applauded.
Bill Clinton’s speech was a continuous string of self-deprecation, as he nodded to his love of fast food and noted that Harris had worked at McDonald’s as a student.
“When she actually gets into the White House as president, I’m going to be very happy because she’s going to break my record for the president who spent the most time at McDonald’s,” he said.
Clinton has spoken at every Democratic nominating convention since Jimmy Carter’s nomination in 1976. Averse to brevity, she holds the dubious record of perhaps the longest Democratic acceptance speech of the modern era, her 1996 speech lasting nearly 65 minutes.
This time, it was less than half full, and there was something nostalgic about it. “I want to say from the bottom of my heart,” said Clinton, 78, two months younger than Trump. “I have no idea how many more talks like this I’ll be able to attend.”
Clinton is known for making last-minute changes to her speeches, but on Monday, the first day of the convention, she tore up her manuscript and began rewriting her speech from scratch, according to a person familiar with her preparations.
With former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s maxim in mind — “Campaign in poetry, govern in prose” — Clinton sought to give her speech a more folksy feel that would capture the enthusiasm that Harris’ candidacy has generated, the people said.
But the 42nd president delivered scathing criticism of Trump to please a partisan audience desperate for a win in this fall’s election. Former President Barack Obama once called Clinton the “chief accountability officer.”
But Clinton acknowledged she could not explain Trump’s frequent campaign references to Dr Hannibal Lecter, the cannibal character from the 1991 horror film “Silence of the Lambs.”
“I’ve thought about it,” he said, “and I don’t know what to say.”
Since his election as president in 1992, Clinton’s relationship with the American people has been up and down. In 1998, he fought off an attempt by Republicans to impeach him over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Voters were forgiving: When he left office three years later, 56% of Americans had a favorable view of him, while only 33% had an unfavorable view, according to an NBC News poll.
But just two months later, Clinton’s approval rating had fallen 22 points amid a furor over a series of questionable pardons he granted in his final days in office.
He helped his wife win the presidential elections in 2008 and 2016, but she lost both times.
He is now set to campaign for Harris in battleground states.
He may be well positioned to draw support from older voters who trust Harris to have led a strong economy in the 1990s.
“Vote for this team, get them elected and bring a breath of fresh air, and you’ll be proud of this team for the rest of your life,” Clinton said. “Your kids will be proud. Your grandkids will be proud.”
“I’ll do my part,” he added. “You do your part.”