Clinton: Trump’s ‘final target is democracy itself’

With Donald Trump’s presidential hopes seemingly fading, the Republican billionaire is intent on tearing down the fundamental pillars of American democracy during the final two weeks of the election, Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in a blistering attack on her opponent.

At a rally in the key battleground state of Florida, the former first lady said Mr. Trump’s constant refrain that the election is “rigged” against him, coupled with his murky statements about whether he’ll accept the results Nov. 8, prove the businessman is trying to do lasting damage to the nation.

“When you are sworn in as president you take an oath. You take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. And listening to Donald Trump’s campaign, I truly doubt that he has ever read the Constitution. Or, if he did back in school, he certainly doesn’t remember it,” she said, going on to recite Mr. Trump’s inflammatory comments about women, Hispanics, and other groups of Americans.

“Now his final target is democracy itself,” Mrs. Clinton continued. “We have faced challenges to our democracy before, and we’ve got to keep working until we have a more perfect union.”

The Trump campaign’s current position is that the candidate will accept the election results absent any evidence of substantial voter fraud or other troubling issues. But Mr. Trump’s initial refusal to commit to accept the result has reverberated through the presidential race over the past week, and it’s given the Clinton campaign a political opening to paint the billionaire as hostile to American democracy.

Mrs. Clinton also blasted Mr. Trump’s recent declaration that the Iraqi-led effort to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State is failing. She suggested the comments prove Mr. Trump’s lack of understanding of foreign policy.

“He is not just wrong,” she said. “He’s dangerously wrong.”