Hillary Clinton blasts Trump while giving debate advice to Biden

Hillary Clinton is the only politician who has debated both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and that may give the one-time presidential candidate some special insight about what it will be like for Biden when he faces off against Trump, or at least that’s what she thinks. 

Clinton took to the op-ed pages of the New York Times on June 25th to explain to Biden and voters what he can expect from Trump in their upcoming first debate. Pressure, lies, and insults are all tactics we should expect according to Clinton. 

“I know the excruciating pressure of walking onto that stage,” Clinton wrote in the Times before adding that focusing on substance when Trump is involved is “nearly impossible.” 

“In our three debates in 2016, he unleashed a blizzard of interruptions, insults, and lies that overwhelmed the moderators and did a disservice to the voters who tuned in,” the former Secretary of State added about her time on stage with Trump. 

Clinton did have some advice for Biden, some of the most interesting of which was the warning that trying to refute Trump’s arguments as if it were a normal debate is a waste of time—this is likely a point that Biden already knew after years of verbal battles. 

Another part of the problem when trying to pick apart the former president’s arguments is that figuring out exactly what Trump is trying to argue is nearly impossible according to Clinton. “He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather,” she wrote.  

“This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated,” Clinton added before she went on to explain she wasn’t surprised by a report that stated Trump “could not keep a straight thought” and was “all over the map” while in a meeting with chief executives.   

However, Clinton also pointed out that Trump’s ranting and raving while debating might be a tactic that he uses to avoid giving “straight answers” about his unpopular positions, specifically pointing to his billionaire tax breaks and ‘donations for policy’ schemes. 

“He interrupts and bullies — he even stalked me around the stage at one point — because he wants to appear dominant and throw his opponent off balance,” Clinton wrote. But she added that Biden can avoid these traps. 

If Biden is direct and forceful in the same way that he was during his State of the Union 2024 address, then she believes that Trump will fall flat. She also encouraged Biden to talk about his record and the many accomplishments he has achieved in office. 

“He led America’s comeback from a historic health and economic crisis, with more than 15 million jobs created so far, incomes for working families rising, inflation slowing, and investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing soaring,” Clinton wrote. 

“He’ll win if that story comes through,” Clinton added. She spent a larger portion of her New York Times op-ed encouraging Americans to ignore the theatrics of the debate and instead look at “how the candidates talk about people.”

Clinton noted Trump promised he would not appoint a Supreme Court justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade in her third debate with her in 2016, but that promise turned out to be untrue and it had “real consequences for real women.” 

“Trump will most likely say he wants to leave abortion to the states,” Clinton wrote about the upcoming debate. “He hopes that sounds moderate” she continued but added he is really “endorsing the most extreme abortion bans already imposed by many states.”

Clinton also explained that Americans need to focus on the fundamentals at stake, like Trump’s threat to democracy, his actions on January 6th, and the potential problems he could create for the country’s economy during a second term in office. 

“This election is between a convicted criminal out for revenge and a president who delivers results for the American people. No matter what happens in the debate, that’s an easy choice,” Clinton concluded. 

Trump campaign Communications Director Steven Cheung rebuked Clinton’s remarks when asked for comments from the campaign by several news sources, including The Hill and Politico.  Cheung called Clinton a “sore loser.”

“Hillary Clinton is a sore loser who still obsesses over her devastating loss in 2016 when her coronation for president was shattered by millions of Americans rejecting her candidacy,” Cheung noted in a statement. 

"Instead of being ashamed, embarrassed, and accepting of her defeat, she has now allowed Trump Derangement Syndrome to rot her brain as she devises ways to stay relevant when the world has passed her by," Chueng added. 

"Joe Biden should look over his shoulder because if he’s not careful, he might get Hillary’d,” Cheung concluded.

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