Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump Made Her 'Skin Crawl'
In her upcoming memoirs, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has revealed what she really felt while debating president Donald Trump when he was the Republican nominee.
She said her “skin crawled” as Trump followed her closely during the second presidential debate in October last year, and at one moment she felt like telling him: "Back up, you creep."
Clinton writes, “It was the second presidential debate, and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women. Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.”
Clinton continues: “It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching: ‘Well, what would you do? Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say loudly and clearly: Back up, you creep, get away from me! I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.’”
The comments were broadcast by MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" on Wednesday from her upcoming memoirs "What Happened," to be released on Sept. 12.
The debate happened a few days after the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape was released, in which Trump was caught on a hot mic saying his celebrity status would allow him to grab women "by the p----," and discussed other sexual advances he made on women.
Allegations of inappropriate behavior had dogged candidate Trump during the campaign and have refused to leave him even after he took oath as the president.
In fact, even during his stint as president, Trump has indulged in behavior with women that many considered “creepy.”
In a moment, which was termed “bizarre” by many eye-witnesses, Trump singled out an Irish journalist at the White House in June — while on a call to recently elected Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar — to comment on her smile.
“Come here, come here. Where are you from? We have all of this beautiful Irish press,” Trump said, pointing at the Washington correspondent for Ireland’s RTÉ News, Caitriona Perry.
“She has a nice smile on her face, so I bet she treats you well,” he continued, while addressing Varadkar.
Though Perry termed the incident bizarre and posted a video of the moment on Twitter, other users were not amused and termed the president a creep for his behavior.
Trump was accused of inappropriate behavior again on his trip to France in July after he commented on the physical appearance of France’s first lady Brigitte Macron.
Trump was filmed at the Hôtel national des Invalides in Paris looking Macron up and down admiringly and telling her, “You’re in such good shape."
Turning to her husband, newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron, who was standing beside him, Trump repeated: “She’s in such good physical shape.”
Comments like these have triggered allegations of misogyny, but some, including daughter Ivanka Trump, have defended Trump’s attitude toward women.
During a summit on women entrepreneurship in Berlin in April, Ivanka tried to defend trump by citing the “thousands” of women who have worked for him over the years in the private sector.
However, the boos and hisses that greeted Ivanka’s defense of her father were an indication of what the audience thought of the president.
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