To Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Is No Longer a Laughing Matter-New York Times, Dec. 10.
WATERLOO, Iowa — Until Monday, when Donald J. Trump proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Hillary Clinton could hardly keep herself from laughing at the mention of his name. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” she told ABC News on Sunday, letting out a giggle that made advisers squirm.
She is no longer laughing.
...
...Mrs. Clinton also strove to recognize something stirring in the electorate that Mr. Trump had clearly tapped into. “It’s O.K., it’s O.K. to be afraid,” she said. “When bad things happen, it does cause anxiety and fear,” she added. “But then you pull yourself together and, especially, if you want to be a leader of our country, and you say: ‘O.K., what are we going to do about it? How are we going to be prepared?’”
The remarks bore little resemblance to Mrs. Clinton’s previous dismissals of Mr. Trump. She had portrayed him as a reality television sideshow who voiced more extreme beliefs that, she contended, his more serious Republican rivals shared.
But since Mr. Trump’s response to the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., Mrs. Clinton and her campaign, confounded by his continued strength in the polls, have had to rethink how they handle Mr. Trump and what his candidacy, and the anger in the electorate that has fueled it, means...
Some of her own voters are giving her reason to.
Bennie Stickley, a 75-year-old in Gilbertville, Iowa, who retired from a John Deere factory, said he was supporting Mrs. Clinton but agrees with Mr. Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims. “I’m for him on that,” he said. “We shouldn’t be letting those people into the country,” he added.
That befuddlement played out in the 24 hours after Mr. Trump released his proposal on Monday. The Clinton campaign, caught off guard, seemed to grapple publicly with how to respond.
...
Mrs. Clinton alternated between tugging at the heartstrings with messages of inclusiveness and capitalizing on Mr. Trump’s comments in ways that some Democrats considered unseemly. After she quickly rejected Mr. Trump’s remarks on Twitter, a fund-raising email went out that night from a top aide, Huma Abedin, under the subject line “I’m a proud Muslim.”
The campaign released a “Love Trumps Hate” bumper sticker...
But privately, campaign aides said a day later that the dust had not settled, and they were searching for how best to hit back at Mr. Trump without dismissing the heightened feelings of insecurity that he was playing upon.
By Wednesday in Waterloo, Mrs. Clinton struck a more somber tone...
“I’m afraid,” a voter who rushed to the rope line after the meeting told Mrs. Clinton. “People are being so vitriolic.”
Mrs. Clinton nodded sympathetically. “That’s why I called Trump out at the beginning of what I said today,” she said. “I think it’s shameful for our country to have people running around to be president of the United States, saying these things, demonizing people.”
Moments later, when a college student asked Mrs. Clinton to make a Snapchat video saying, “You’re fired, Donald Trump,” she demurred.
“I’m not going to say that,” she said, as if to do so would cross a line.
...
“The elite political community has been struggling to figure out how to deal with him because they don’t fundamentally understand the phenomenon,” said David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama. “He’s speaking to something that they’re just getting their arms around.”
...
Many of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers say they...have contemplated what it would mean for Mrs. Clinton, a policy wonk known for her 12-point plans to approach problems, to run against the visceral Mr. Trump...
In Washington on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton’s pollster, Joel Benenson, told a campaign briefing that he believed Mr. Trump would linger and be a "dominant" force...
Former President Bill Clinton has been particularly intrigued by Mr. Trump’s appeal, referring to his campaign as ideal for what he dismissively calls an “Instagram election” of quick sound bites and easy responses (“Build a wall!” “Close the borders!”) to extremely complex problems, said one of these advisers with direct knowledge of Mr. Clinton’s conversations.
...
...the threat of a homegrown terrorist attack has elevated anxieties and made Mr. Trump’s proposal appealing even to some voters who support Mrs. Clinton.
In Waterloo, Mike Russell, 60, called Mr. Trump “an idiot.” But when he was asked if he thought Mrs. Clinton had been aggressive enough in outlining her plan to defeat ISIS, Mr. Russell paused.
“I don’t know,” he said. “That last deal in California, that changes the game.”
WATERLOO, Iowa — Until Monday, when Donald J. Trump proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Hillary Clinton could hardly keep herself from laughing at the mention of his name. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” she told ABC News on Sunday, letting out a giggle that made advisers squirm.
She is no longer laughing.
...
...Mrs. Clinton also strove to recognize something stirring in the electorate that Mr. Trump had clearly tapped into. “It’s O.K., it’s O.K. to be afraid,” she said. “When bad things happen, it does cause anxiety and fear,” she added. “But then you pull yourself together and, especially, if you want to be a leader of our country, and you say: ‘O.K., what are we going to do about it? How are we going to be prepared?’”
The remarks bore little resemblance to Mrs. Clinton’s previous dismissals of Mr. Trump. She had portrayed him as a reality television sideshow who voiced more extreme beliefs that, she contended, his more serious Republican rivals shared.
But since Mr. Trump’s response to the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., Mrs. Clinton and her campaign, confounded by his continued strength in the polls, have had to rethink how they handle Mr. Trump and what his candidacy, and the anger in the electorate that has fueled it, means...
Some of her own voters are giving her reason to.
Bennie Stickley, a 75-year-old in Gilbertville, Iowa, who retired from a John Deere factory, said he was supporting Mrs. Clinton but agrees with Mr. Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims. “I’m for him on that,” he said. “We shouldn’t be letting those people into the country,” he added.
That befuddlement played out in the 24 hours after Mr. Trump released his proposal on Monday. The Clinton campaign, caught off guard, seemed to grapple publicly with how to respond.
...
Mrs. Clinton alternated between tugging at the heartstrings with messages of inclusiveness and capitalizing on Mr. Trump’s comments in ways that some Democrats considered unseemly. After she quickly rejected Mr. Trump’s remarks on Twitter, a fund-raising email went out that night from a top aide, Huma Abedin, under the subject line “I’m a proud Muslim.”
The campaign released a “Love Trumps Hate” bumper sticker...
But privately, campaign aides said a day later that the dust had not settled, and they were searching for how best to hit back at Mr. Trump without dismissing the heightened feelings of insecurity that he was playing upon.
By Wednesday in Waterloo, Mrs. Clinton struck a more somber tone...
“I’m afraid,” a voter who rushed to the rope line after the meeting told Mrs. Clinton. “People are being so vitriolic.”
Mrs. Clinton nodded sympathetically. “That’s why I called Trump out at the beginning of what I said today,” she said. “I think it’s shameful for our country to have people running around to be president of the United States, saying these things, demonizing people.”
Moments later, when a college student asked Mrs. Clinton to make a Snapchat video saying, “You’re fired, Donald Trump,” she demurred.
“I’m not going to say that,” she said, as if to do so would cross a line.
...
“The elite political community has been struggling to figure out how to deal with him because they don’t fundamentally understand the phenomenon,” said David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama. “He’s speaking to something that they’re just getting their arms around.”
...
Many of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers say they...have contemplated what it would mean for Mrs. Clinton, a policy wonk known for her 12-point plans to approach problems, to run against the visceral Mr. Trump...
In Washington on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton’s pollster, Joel Benenson, told a campaign briefing that he believed Mr. Trump would linger and be a "dominant" force...
Former President Bill Clinton has been particularly intrigued by Mr. Trump’s appeal, referring to his campaign as ideal for what he dismissively calls an “Instagram election” of quick sound bites and easy responses (“Build a wall!” “Close the borders!”) to extremely complex problems, said one of these advisers with direct knowledge of Mr. Clinton’s conversations.
...
...the threat of a homegrown terrorist attack has elevated anxieties and made Mr. Trump’s proposal appealing even to some voters who support Mrs. Clinton.
In Waterloo, Mike Russell, 60, called Mr. Trump “an idiot.” But when he was asked if he thought Mrs. Clinton had been aggressive enough in outlining her plan to defeat ISIS, Mr. Russell paused.
“I don’t know,” he said. “That last deal in California, that changes the game.”
