President Trump has shown contempt for American values, Chelsea Clinton said in an interview published Saturday.
“I don’t agree with what he’s doing to degrade what it means to be an American,” Clinton told the Guardian.
Clinton argued that Trump has pushed “meanness” into the mainstream, citing Trump’s remarks about minorities. She added that the vitriol directed at her via social media used to be easier to ignore before Trump became president, but now she feels that she has to speak out against it to show it’s unacceptable.
“I think that the way that our president and many people around him have not only mainstreamed hate, but mainlined it, is so deeply dangerous,” the former first daughter explained.
“So the reason, now, I no longer ignore it when people say hateful things to me on the street or on social media is, I think we have to shine a light. I think those of us who have platforms to do that have to say this is wrong and unacceptable, so we don’t normalize it but try to detoxify what has been unleashed. Because if we don’t, we leave a vacuum. And I think the darkness fills that vacuum,” Clinton continued.
Clinton also said Americans have tolerated “hateful things” for so long because of freedom of speech.
“People thought you couldn’t dispute hateful things, because they’re like – well, it’s freedom of speech. Well, freedom of speech doesn’t mean there is freedom of consequences,” she said. “Sure, you should not be in prison because you said something racist. But you also shouldn’t be able to run for president. And yet here we are.”
