WASHINGTON — In a speech Friday primarily devoted to women’s role in diplomacy, Hillary Clinton got her longest applause lines when attacking the Trump administration.
Clinton was at Georgetown University for the handing out of the annual Hillary Rodham Clinton Awards for Advancing Women in Peace and Security. The awards and the ceremony were primarily dedicated to the recent peace deal in Colombia.
Clinton walked out to speak in front of an audience of primarily women to woos and “Hillary” chants.
“Let’s do that again,” she said. She said she has always enjoyed coming to the university due to its warm welcomes.
The former secretary of state focused on global women’s rights during her speech and said that the is the “great unfinished business” of the 21st century.
She also included take shots at the White House. Clinton made a case against President Trump’s proposed non-interventionism and said that refugees “aren’t somebody else’s problem.”
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton looks toward awardee Jineth Bedoya, a Colombian journalist and advocate for victims of sexual violence, during an ceremony honoring women and their role in international politics and peace building efforts hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in Washington, March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
She bemoaned proposed State Department budget cuts and quoted Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis as saying if State Department funding gets cut he needs to buy more ammunition. The former secretary of state called this a “grave mistake” that would hurt “women and children” around the globe. (RELATED: Chaos At State Dept Is Slowing Trump Down, Critics Say)
She said that evidence shows that peace deals made by women last longer, and added, “Here I go again reading out research and facts.”
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton reacts after being introduced to speak at an awards ceremony honoring women and their role in international politics and peace building efforts hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in Washington, March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
This line got her nearly a minute’s worth of applause. She later made reference to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” line. “I will say clearly women are not inherently more peaceful than men. That’s a stereotype. That belongs in the alternative reality.”
Clinton concluded her speech saying that in the modern interconnected world the U.S. doesn’t have the freedom to focus on a few issues, and that it’s “our choice to make” whether the U.S. stands up for “our values.”
