Hillary Clinton links "Trump effect" to rise in bullying and harassment in schools
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton tore into rival Donald Trump Tuesday morning, linking what she called the "Trump effect" to increased bullying and harassment in schools.
Clinton addressed an enthusiastic audience of roughly 8,000 members of the National Education Association waving thunder sticks and placards who were gathered in Washington, D.C., for their annual conference. Around the same time she took the stage, FBI Director James Comey was holding a press briefing just a mile away on her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Clinton made no mention of the issue during her 30-minute speech.
Towards the end of her address, Clinton slammed Trump on education-related issues ranging from Trump University which she argued "took advantage of vulnerable Americans," to Trump's attacks on the Department of Education.
"You know parents and educators across America are already worried about what they are calling and telling me they're calling the Trump effect," Clinton said citing how, "bullying and harassment is on the rise in our schools."
Playing to the audience, Clinton went on, saying, "I wish more people thought about how Donald Trump's rants are being heard by our children."
The former secretary of state recounted how a mother of an adopted boy in Wisconsin wrote to her to say that "her adopted son had turned to her and said if Trump becomes president, he's going to make me go back to Ethiopia." Clinton added, "That's the kind of fear Donald Trump is creating in the heart of a ten-year-old American boy."
Clinton then rattled off a list of other insulting or controversial things Trump has said -- he has referred to some women as "pigs," she recalled, and she noted his attacks against a Hispanic judge, as well as his proposed ban on Muslim immigration.
Invoking Trump's effect on children is a tactic that Trump's vanquished Republican rivals tried during the primary campaign without apparent success.
Belittling Trump, Clinton declared, "You would not tolerate that kind of behavior in your classrooms. Let's not tolerate it from someone trying to become president of the United States."
Later on Tuesday afternoon, Clinton will campaign at her first 2016 rally with President Obama, traveling with him on Air Force One to Charlotte, N.C.