Hillary Clinton declares war on the hard-right faction of conservative news media
During a major speech on the alternative-right movement in Nevada, the Democratic presidential nominee took aim at media like the website Breitbart and Alex Jones, a talk-show host famous for pedaling conspiracy theories.
Clinton said that Trump's "paranoid fever dream" about her health was a result, perhaps, of consuming such media.
"It's what happens when you listen to the radio host Alex Jones, who claims that 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings were inside jobs," she said. "He said the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were child actors and no one was actually killed there."
At one point in her speech, Clinton read a series of headlines from Breitbart.
"To give you a flavor of his work, here are a few headlines they've published," she said, proceeding to pronounce the headlines while her audience of supporters gasped and jeered:
- "Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy";
- "Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?" and
- "Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement's Human Shield"
The former secretary of state quoted the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that tracks hate groups, which alleged Breitbart embraces "ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right. Racist ideas."
Clinton then attacked Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart whom Donald Trump recently named as the chief executive of his campaign.
"Bannon has nasty things to say about pretty much everyone," she said, later adding, "No wonder he's gone to work for Trump."
Breitbart responded on Twitter and on its website by attempting to turn the tables on Clinton. The right-wing website dubbed her "tinfoil Hillary" on its front page and published this tweet: