Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton admitted that the presidential race she was running in had become “downright depressing” during a rally at Temple University in Philadelphia specifically branded for millennials.
“Now of course, politics can be discouraging,” Clinton said, talking about her career in politics and activism. “This election in particular can be down right depressing sometimes.”
She complained that the media had helped Donald Trump turn the election into a reality show.
“We can’t get distracted when the media or my opponent turns this election into a circus,” she said.
Reading from a teleprompter, Clinton told several personalized stories of some of her young supporters struggling with their difficult circumstances and promised to fight with them for reform.
But she saved her most energetic lines for criticizing Trump for his campaign rhetoric.
“But you also see the Republican presidential nominee for president who incites hatred and violence like we’ve never seen before in any campaign,” she said. “Hate speech being normalized. The dog whistles are out in the open.”
The audience behind Clinton appeared to applaud politely as she recited a long list of things she wanted to accomplish and signaled emotions about people she had met on the campaign trail.
But Clinton admitted that she hadn’t been fully transparent about who she was, and tried to express that she was willing to change.
“I also know that even if you are totally opposed to Donald Trump, you may still have some questions about me,” she admitted. “I get that. And I want to do my best to answer those questions.”
She urged them to register voters and volunteer for her campaign.
“This is going to be close, we need everybody off the sidelines,” she said. “Not voting is not an option. That just plays right into Trump’s hands. It really does.”