Hillary Clinton: Trump counting on Americans becoming ‘desensitized’ to ‘outrageous’ claims

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, says former President Trump is counting on Americans to become “desensitized” to his “outrageous” falsehoods.

In an interview on Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Clinton urged the public to take her 2016 opponent both “seriously” and “literally.”

“Part of what Trump is counting on is for people to get desensitized… it’s just, like with a shrug, OK, fine we’re moving on. Well, Americans need to understand that they have to take Trump both seriously and literally,” Clinton said.

“He has said what he wants to do, he and his allies, with Project 2025, his desire to be a dictator, at least on day one. All of that is in the public record,” she continued. “And I believe that more Americans have to be willing to endure what, frankly, is discomforting and to some extent kind of painful, to take him at his word and to be outraged by what he represents.”

Clinton also agreed with Maddow, who said the press seems not to have learned lessons from the 2016 coverage of the presidential race, when Trump and Clinton faced off. She said she was “struck” by how quickly the press moves from one “outrageous” story to the next, even, Maddow said, “as his campaign careens into very, very offensive territory.”

Maddow continued, listing some recent examples: “The association with Holocaust deniers and the outrages at Arlington National Cemetery, of all places, the insults to recipients of the Medal of Honor, the recent incredibly racist and dangerous lies about specific groups of immigrants, Haitians, in this case, and Venezuelans in the case of Colorado.”

Clinton agreed with her assessment.

“Sadly, the press is still not able to cover Trump the way that they should,” Clinton said. “They careen from one outrage to the next. What was outrageous three days ago is no longer on the front pages, even though it threatens the physical safety of so many people.”

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, hit back at Clinton for her remarks, in an emailed statement.

“Crooked Hillary still can’t get over being a sore loser from 2016 and now has let Trump Derangement Syndrome completely take over her life to the point she’s appearing on low-rated MSDNC shows and begging Kamala for a job. It’s sad,” he said.