Clinton calls out Trump's "steady stream of bigotry"

With 74 days until Election Day, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are in a war of words over race relations.

Speaking at a community college in Reno, Nevada, Clinton did not mince words. She said Trump was building a campaign on prejudice, steeped in conspiracy theories, with dog whistles to white supremacists and racists, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

“There has been a steady stream of bigotry coming from him,” Clinton said.

Clinton came armed with examples, like Donald Trump’s comments about Hispanics and Muslims.

“He’d ban Muslims around the world from entering our country just because of their religion,” she said.

She also said his conspiracy theories followed a similar pattern.

“He promoted the racist lie that President Obama is not really an American citizen,” Clinton said.

Even his recent outreach to minority communities, she said, have reinforced offensive stereotypes.

“It really does take a lot of nerve to ask people he’s ignored and mistreated for decades, ‘What do you have to lose?’ because the answer is everything!” Clinton said.

Clinton argued Trump’s views line up with the alt-right, a previously obscure white nationalist movement expanding online.

“There’s always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, a lot of it arising from racial resentment. But it’s never had the nominee of a major party stoking it, encouraging it, and giving it a national megaphone until now,” Clinton said.

Clinton also called out Breitbart, a conservative website that was run by the Trump campaign’s new CEO. The site responded with the headline, “Hillary Clinton Calls 31 Million Breitbart Readers ‘Racist’ Klansmen.” 

Alt-right sites have also welcomed the publicity, asking for donations and outlining their anti-immigrant philosophy.

“We have an aging white America. They are not making babies, they are dying,” said a video​ from an alt-right website.

Trump dismissed the attacks before Clinton even took the stage.

“You’re racist, you’re racist, you’re racist. It’s a tired, disgusting argument,” Trump said.

After attacking each other from the podium, both candidates also took to social media late Thursday night. In a post on Medium​, Clinton wrote: “Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia,” calling it “profoundly dangerous.”

Trump also responded to Clinton and her speech, tweeting that Clinton was the “only one fear-mongering.” 

He concluded his barrage of tweets with a new web video attacking Clinton, with the caption: “Clinton needs to address the racist undertones of her 2008 campaign.”

In:
• Hillary Clinton
• Donald Trump
• 2016 Election