'Back Off, Creep': Hillary Clinton Revisits Trump’s Infamous Debate Move, Crowd Erupts In Laughter

And you showed us all how to stand up to bullies, too, on stage when he hovered over you and everything. That truly was one of the most bizarre moments in American history. And I have to tell you, I mean, I'm on stage. It was the second debate. Everybody, all the news, you know, programs and everybody all said that I'd won the first debate. And so now he's looming over me. And I'm in real time thinking, what am I going to do about this? I mean it was a very big dilemma it goes back to the question back there how do women respond in public under pressure because it's almost like no choice is the right choice so I'm sitting I'm standing there and although I'm answering questions I'm trying to stay focused but I'm also thinking what do I do do I whirl around and say back off you creep I mean I don't know what do I say which You know, I immediately could see, you know, all of the newscasters saying, well, she can't take it. You know, she she got rattled. Look at her. She's like angry and responding in that way. Do I try to make a joke? But maybe it wouldn't be funny. Like, you know, I know you like me, Donald, but you don't have to get that close or, you know, I don't know. I was everything was going through my head. And at the end, I thought, you know, I'm just going to try to take a deep breath and maintain my calm and, you know, so that because we've never had a woman president, there's not an image. It's not like you think of a president, faces pop into your brain, right? And they're all men, obviously, starting with George Washington. And whoever your favorites are, you know, you might see, you know, Jack Kennedy or Franklin Roosevelt or Dwight Eisenhower, whoever you're imagining. Well, we've never had a woman. So this is like a real challenge for people to imagine a woman in the Oval Office as Commander-in-Chief. So I decided that I was going to remain calm because, you know, I try to be calm most of the time. So I'm going to try to remain calm so that I wouldn't get, you know, attacked as being emotional or angry or lashing out and all of that. You know, I relive that moment a lot because I don't know what I would do today. But back then, I felt like that was the right decision. And once again, they did polling and all that. And so it was considered that I had succeeded. But I knew what he was doing. I mean, he was playing to his base. And he was demonstrating dominance. And so the kind of psychological messages he was sending were, you know look at me I am dominating the stage I'm dominating her and so I had to figure out what were people going to see if they looked at me and you know that that's the kind of thing that you know women have to have in the back of our heads like how do I respond what's appropriate you know do I show emotion or not I mean I do find it a little bit ironic to say the least that you know, all of the lines going back in history about women are too emotional to do this or do that. I mean, look at these people. Honestly, the whining, the whining just today about the Nobel Peace Prize. It's like a tome, you know, on truth. You know, Jay, that reminds me. So when I was at when I was at the opening of the Obama library, which I hope you all get to visit And, you know, Bill and I were up there with the former presidents and first ladies and was sitting behind, you know, Barack and Michelle and their daughters. So when Michelle gave that very touching and clever speech about all the things that her husband had done that the other guy hasn't, and when she got to, and then, you know, the Nobel Peace Prize, I just burst into laughter. I thought it was so perfect. And so Barack turns around and kind of, you know, grins at me. And so I leaned forward and I said, I really hope that Donald Trump is watching this. And I really hope he heard that line. And, you know, I think he's got to feel like he is, you know, in the 10th circle of hell or something because of this litany of everything you've done. And Barack goes, yeah, me too. I hope so. Secretary Clinton, I'm here for all of it. We saw that moment. I think that was a highlight. I have a question. T.J. King has a question because we're seeing this a lot in our communities. How do you address people who say that their vote doesn't count or doesn't matter? What do we need to be talking, especially in communities that are being hit hard by what's going on currently in this administration? Well, you know, there's several answers to that. I mean, there are the factual answers, which we all know. You know, we all know elections that were decided by very few votes. So, you know, that's something that you can try to point out to people. but that's not really what someone's saying. What someone is saying is, I don't think anybody cares about me. I don't think anybody understands my life. I don't think anybody cares about what kind of job I have or how, you know, good my kids' schools are. I just don't think people care. And so I don't think my vote counts because I don't think whoever I vote for is actually going to care about me and actually do anything for me. And you could kind of understand that for people who feel like, you know, they've had a series of hard times. You know, if you look back on the last, you know, 25 years in our country, you know, I was a senator from New York on 9-11. That was a trauma. The terrible financial crisis of 2008 was horrific for people. We had an election in 2016 that raised a lot of questions that we're still trying to find answers for about what kind of really went on. And then we had COVID. And so if you're somebody who is saying, does it really matter that I vote because I'm not sure I matter to the people that I'm asked to vote for? What we have to do is demonstrate as clearly as possible and then repeat over and over again, you do matter. And we're going to do everything we can to try to help you have the life you deserve to have. Now, you've got to do your part. You've got to be responsible. You have to work hard. You have to try to get an education. But we're not going to allow your hard work to continue to be undervalued and overwhelmed by the advantages that are going to the people at the very top. And we're going to try to get better balance in our economy and our politics. But then we've got to produce. I mean, I'm very excited about winning in November. And I want to see, you know, Nebraska 1 and Nebraska 2, you know, go Democratic. I want to see you send an independent who's got common sense to the Senate. I mean, I want to see all of that happen. But then what's most important is what are you going to do with those majorities? How are you going to show people that you're actually producing results that are going to affect their lives? And, you know, what the Republicans have done and what Trump, let's give him credit, is a master of doing is diverting attention. You know, I mean, he even said, I don't really care about whether gas is affordable or you have an affordable house or health care is affordable. I'm actually making that worse, by the way. I just want you to hate the people I hate. I want you to be upset about people who are not like you. I want you to be divided, because when you're divided, then I can conquer. And I don't have to do much for you, because I'm just going to keep your emotions in a constant state of turmoil, and then either you don't vote or you vote for me, because I'm promising to be strong and tough. Not clear what that means, but nevertheless, that's my message. And I think that's kind of worn out. I think what originally seemed like, oh, he's a different kind of leader. He says what he thinks, all of that. I think that is beginning to finally sink through to people like, wait a minute, am I better off? Has my life improved? I look at other people, especially those who are doing really, really well, and they seem to be enjoying a lot of access to the president. And even the president has made a lot of money, which is so unprecedented. And so wait a minute, what has he actually done for me? And so when a voter says that, say, can I ask you something? Do you think that the people who are currently in charge in Washington, here in this state, have they actually helped you? Have they actually made your life better? Because if the answer is no, why don't you take a chance on people who are promising to do that for you? Thank you.