CHICAGO — Former President Bill Clinton mocked Republican nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday night, calling him a narcissist consumed by petty concerns that have nothing to do with the everyday problems of Americans.
Speaking at the Democratic National Convention, Clinton compared what she described as Trump’s fixation on crowd size to Vice President Kamala Harris’ focus on improving lives.
“We have a pretty clear choice in 2024, I think,” Clinton told a packed crowd at the United Center.
“It’s for the people,” Harris said. “The other guy is all about me, myself and me.”
Follow along with the live stream of the convention.
If Harris wins in November, she will become the first female president to break what Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called “the highest, hardest glass ceiling” when she lost to Trump eight years ago.
Speaking to the prime-time crowd, Hillary Clinton stood between the couple’s daughter, Chelsea, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, watching and applauding the audience.
Bill Clinton’s speech drew a lot of self-deprecation. He nods at her love of fast foodHe noted that Harris worked at McDonald’s when he was a student.
“When he actually gets into the White House as president, I will be very happy because he will break my record as the president who has spent the most time at McDonald’s,” he said.
Clinton has spoken at every Democratic convention since 1976, when Jimmy Carter was the party’s nominee. Never short, he holds the dubious record of giving the longest Democratic acceptance speech in modern times. His performance in 1996 clocked in at about 65 minutes.
It was less than half nostalgic. “I mean it from the bottom of my heart,” said Clinton, who is 78 and two months younger than Trump. “I have no idea how many more of these I can come up with.”
A person familiar with the preparation for the speech said Clinton, who is known for working on her speeches in advance of her speech, tore up her draft on Monday, the first day of the convention, and began reworking it from scratch.
Taking note of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s “campaign with poetry, lead with prose,” Clinton later tried to infuse her speech with a more folksy quality that captured the enthusiasm that Harris’ candidacy had sparked.
But he also bashed Trump to please a partisan audience desperate to win this fall. Former President Barack Obama once called Clinton “a secretary who explains things.”
However, Clinton admitted that even she was at a loss to explain Trump’s constant campaign references to Hannibal Lecter, the cannibal from the 1991 horror film The Silence of the Lambs.
“I’ve thought about it,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”
After Clinton’s speech, Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung attacked the former Democratic president in a statement.
“Bill Clinton is a complete loser who desperately clings to any spotlight he can get because no one cares what he has to say,” Cheung said. “The sad reality is that he, along with Crooked Hillary, suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome and has allowed it to rot his brain so much that he is a shell of the person he once was.”
Since being elected president in 1992, Clinton has had an up-and-down relationship with the American public. He defeated an impeachment attempt by congressional Republicans in 1998 over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Voters have proven they forgive. When he left office three years later, 56% of Americans had a favorable opinion of him, compared to just 33% who had an unfavorable opinion, according to an NBC News poll.
But just two months later, Clinton’s approval rating has dropped 22 points due to a series of questionable pardons she issued on her last day in office.
He tried to elect his wife in both his 2008 and 2016 presidential bids, only to see her fail both times.
Now he’s preparing to campaign for Harris in a battleground state.
He could provide Harris with older voters who say he presided over a strong economy in the 1990s.
“If you vote for this team, get them elected and let them bring this breath of fresh air, you’ll be proud of it for the rest of your life,” Clinton said. “Your children will be proud of it. Your grandchildren will be proud of it.”
“I’ll do my thing,” he said. “You do your thing.”