Hillary Clinton celebrated a resounding victory in the Democratic presidential primary on Super Tuesday at a hometown rally at the Jacob Javits Center in New York on Wednesday.
In a pivot to the general election, Hillary drew a stark contrast between herself and Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, on tone and vision for the future. “This is one of the most consequential presidential elections we’ve had in a long time,” Hillary told the crowd of over 5,000. “The other side has a very different vision of what our country should look like and how we should treat each other.”
Without mentioning Trump and Rubio by name, Hillary decried the rhetoric, the finger pointing and insults flying between the candidates in the Republican primary. “Maybe some people think that’s entertaining. But I can tell you, this is serious business,” she stated. “It really matters when you run for president what you say. And, boy, does it matter you are the president about what you say and how the rest of the world hears you.”
“We are going to wage a campaign that is about the future and about bringing us all together,” Hillary promised.
Also speaking at the rally was NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who assailed Trump for not condemning David Duke and the KKK at the first given opportunity. “I am sorry, I can’t this out of my system: why did it take Donald Trump so long to figure out that it’s the right thing to do to condemn the KKK? Why did it take him so long to think that David Duke was not a good person?” de Blasio asked rhetorically.
Attendees, consisting of labor union workers and local supporters, were upbeat about the chances of Hillary taking a big lead in the Democratic race against Bernie Sanders and the prospects of her winning the general against a Republican like Trump. “We have this one shot to put up the strongest candidate to stop the party of Trump, Cruz and Rubio,” Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Jewish Labor Committee and the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, told the crowd.
“Hillary is the best placed to fight Donald Trump. I think she will be able to call him out over his rhetoric and, ultimately, she is going to win,” Oz Ben-Ami, a Manhattan resident and a supporter of Hillary, told Jewish Insider.
Ben-Ami said that while Trump’s recent comments on Israel or refusal to outright condemn the KKK don’t seem to affect his support in the Republican primary, in the general election, “a lot of voters are not going to give him that kind of support.”
