Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured speaking to supporters March 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. After declaring victory in the Arizona primary Tuesday night, she took the opportunity to slam Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for "bigotry" in response to the Brussels attacks. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI |
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SEATTLE, March 23 (UPI) -- In a victory speech delivered well after most Americans had gone to bed Tuesday, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton attacked her Republican counterpart Donald Trump as a "demagogue" who is "inciting bigotry and violence."
The broadside attack, Clinton's most direct yet at her possible general election opponent, came after a day in which the candidates all traded barbs over how they would handle a terrorist attack on U.S. soil in the wake of the bombings in Brussels Tuesday morning.
In response to the attack, Trump doubled down on his previous assertion he would stop all Muslims from entering the country and agreed with a proposal by his GOP rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who called on police to "secure" Muslim neighborhoods in American cities.
Clinton responded in her speech Tuesday, saying the country needs "steady" leadership, not overreactions.
"We live in a complex and dangerous world, and we need a commander in chief who can provide leadership that is strong, smart and above all, steady," she told the crowd at a high school in Seattle. "The last thing we need, my friends, are leaders who incite more fear. In the face of terror, America doesn't panic. We don't build walls or turn our backs on our allies."
Trump also called on America to back away from its leadership role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.
Trump did not hold an election night event after both candidates scored victories in Arizona, the largest state voting on Tuesday. Instead, he used a favorite medium, Twitter, to attack Clinton earlier in the day over Brussels.
"Incompetent Hillary, despite the horrible attack in Brussels today, wants borders to be weak and open-and let the Muslims flow in. No Way!"
Clinton's response Tuesday night: "When we see people running for president of the United States who are literally inciting bigotry and violence we've got to reclaim the promise of America for all our people, every single one of us."
