Hillary Resistance Clinton

Hillary Clinton Is Still Driving Republicans Crazy

The former presidential candidate returns to her alma mater for a commencement speech.
This image may contain Graduation Human Person and Hillary Clinton
Left, by John M. Hurley/The Boston Globe; Right, by Paul Marotta/WireImage, both from Getty Images.

Forty-eight years after she gave the commencement speech as a 21-year-old graduate at Wellesley College, Hillary Clinton returned to her alma mater to give the commencement address to the graduating class of 2017 on Friday. In her comments, Clinton did not hold back when it came to criticizing the current occupant of the White House, per The New York Times, calling the current political situation “a con.”

And Republicans—though now in control of three branches of government and in no way affected by Clinton anymore—went, predictably, crazy. Upon hearing Clinton’s speech, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement Friday that Clinton’s speech was a “stark reminder why [she] lost in 2016.” She claimed that Clinton was “lashing out with the same partisan talking points.”

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In her speech, Clinton compared 1969, the tumultuous year in which she graduated—with the country deep in the thick of the Vietnam War—to the country’s current worrying political state. Without mentioning Donald Trump’s name, she compared him to Richard Nixon, which is a parallel many have been making since the president fired former F.B.I. director James Comey.

“We were asking urgent questions about whether women, people of color, religious minorities, immigrants would ever be treated with dignity and respect,” Clinton said. “And by the way, 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 went on to remind students of the specific challenges they are facing today, getting in her digs toward Washington where she could.

“And here’s what that means to you, the class of 2017. You are graduating at a time when there is a full-fledged assault on truth and reason . . . Drumming up rampant fear about undocumented immigrants, Muslims, minorities, the poor . . . And to top it off, it is shrouded in a trillion-dollar mathematical lie. Let’s call it what it is. It’s a con.”

She finished her speech by encouraging students to “break the rules of the game,” and even alluded to her own challenges on the 2016 campaign trail:

“They may even call you a nasty woman. Some may take a slightly more sophisticated approach and say your elite education means you are out of touch with real people. In other words, sit down and shut up. Now, in my experience, that’s the last thing you should ever tell a Wellesley graduate.”

Clinton’s speech, though it ends on an encouraging note, is also a clear sign that she does not intend to stay silent during this Republican era. As she made clear by launching a political-action organization “Onward Together” earlier this month, Clinton is planting herself firmly in the Trump resistance. “Resist, persist, enlist” has become her motto, which is only going to anger staunch anti-Hillary Republicans further.

As Rebecca Traister mentions in her New York magazine profile published Friday, Clinton is slowly moving on from her heartbreaking election year. “Clinton herself is one of these awakened women,” Traister writes, comparing the former presidential candidate to the millions of women fighting back at the current administration.

But it has taken some time for Clinton to reach this point in her election recovery. As she said in her speech, long walks in the woods and closet organizing has helped her build up her resilience to whatever vitriol the Republicans sling her way. “And a little Chardonnay helped, too,” she added. Take note, graduates. This is the Trump era; you’ll need all the liquid courage you can get.