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Bill Clinton tore into Donald Trump while touting Kamala Harris’s leadership on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago – in a speech seeking to help shepherd his party into a new era.
Clinton leaned heavily into the role of elder statesman in his remarks while describing Trump as self-centered and positioning Harris, the Democratic nominee, as the natural opposite.
He began by referencing his age — notable by the slightly raspy voice and shake in the hands — while still getting in a dig at Trump.
"Two days ago I turned 78 – the oldest man in my family,” Clinton remarked. “And the only personal vanity I want to assert, is that I'm still younger than Donald Trump."
The joke drew laughs before Clinton pushed deeper into his criticism of Harris’s rival.
“[H]ow does Donald Trump use his voice? Mostly to talk about himself—his vengeance, vendettas, complaints, conspiracies,” he said.
“The next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the I’s. He’s like the tenor warming up before the opera: me, me, me, me.”
Clinton then delivered rapid-fire remarks, making references to some of Trump’s more unique rally themes.
“Do you want to build a strong economy from the bottom up and the middle out? Or do you want to spend the next four years talking about crowd sizes? ... Do you want to strengthen our alliances and stand up for freedom and democracy around the world?” he said.
“Or a tribute to the ’late great’ Hannibal Lecter? Do you want to save our country and our world from the calamities of climate change? Or obsess on the vital debate between getting eaten by sharks or electrocuted?”
He then reflected on Trump’s debate performance. “I almost croaked during the first debate when Trump said ‘nobody respect America anymore’ like they did when he was president,” Clinton said.
“And with a straight face! Look, you gotta give it [to him] – he’s a good actor.”
While Clinton didn’t echo the chant which Harris’s campaign has embraced, “we’re not going back”, he did his best to set the vice president apart as the candidate of the future, with Trump representing the past.
Bill Clinton: I almost croaked during the first debate when Trump said 'nobody respect American anymore' like they did when he was president. And with a straight face! Look, you gotta give it -- he's a good actor -- he cited the presidents of North Korea and Russia pic.twitter.com/PALkWa2ISZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 22, 2024
“I want an America that’s more joyful, inclusive, and future-focused. Where we weather the storms and earn the benefits together. That’s the America Kamala Harris will lead,” Clinton said.
“Donald Trump– a paragon of consistency – is still dividing, blaming, and belittling. He creates and curates chaos. It’s showmanship, but it’s not leadership.”
Clinton’s forceful but stoic tone contrasted with the energetic and aggressive message from another former president, Barack Obama on Tuesday. It leaned into painting Harris as the younger candidate representing America’s future in a way that only a symbol of the party’s past could really do.
Clinton’s speech, according to reports, was rewritten after he saw the first day of the convention. Some noticed on Wednesday that he read it off paper, instead of from the teleprompter.
He also delivered perhaps the most somber moment of the night, a recognition of his place in the background of the party’s future which Joe Biden had only brushed at during his own “passing the torch” remarks on Monday night, pushed out of primetime by younger speakers.
“I have no idea how many more of these I'll be able to come to,” said Clinton, noting that he had started coming to conventions in “1976 – no, 1972.”
Bill Clinton is reading not from a teleprompter, but pages of actual paper. Which, for those of us who started covering him in the '92 campaign, means he didn't finish his last version of his speech in time to load it on the teleprompter.
— Susan Milligan (@MilliganSusan) August 22, 2024
Clinton also thanked Biden directly for choosing to step aside for Harris, something he compared to the decision of George Washington to step down after his second term, which set the two-term precedent followed to the modern era.
“[H]e did something that's really hard for a politician to do: he voluntarily gave up political power," said Clinton. “George Washington knew that. And he did it, and he set the standard for us serving two terms before it was mandatory. It helped his legacy, and it will enhance Joe Biden's legacy."
His remarks were followed by another symbol of the party’s past, Nancy Pelosi, who has actively embraced a shifting role which has included giving up the reins of the House Democratic caucus to Hakeem Jeffries.
Pelosi, who went willingly into her new backbencher position, was seen as a key player involved in pushing Biden towards making the decision to step down from the Democratic ticket last month.
Harris’s running mate Tim Walz was the keynote speaker for the next-to-last night of the convention; Harris herself will deliver her address on the final night on Thursday.
