Hillary Clinton blasts Donald Trump as she vows to be President to unite America
Democratic candidate says her rival cannot be trusted with Twitter let alone nuclear weapons
HILLARY Clinton had Donald Trump firmly in her sights last night as she became the first woman to be selected as a major party’s candidate for the American presidency.
In the biggest speech of her political career she contrasted herself with what she described as a dangerous and volatile Trump.
And she promised to make the United States a country that worked for everyone.
She said: "We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against.
“But we are not afraid."
She presented a much more upbeat view of the country than her rival Trump offered when Republicans nominated him last week, and even turned one of Republican hero Ronald Reagan's signature phrases against the New York real-estate developer.
"He's taken the Republican Party a long way, from 'Morning in America' to 'Midnight in America,'" Clinton said.
"He wants to divide us - from the rest of the world, and from each other."
Clinton portrayed Trump as a threat to the country, saying "a man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."
Vying to be the first woman elected U.S. president, Clinton called her nomination "a milestone”.
The 68-year-old added: "When any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. "That's why when there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit."
During her speech she acknowledged some people still not know her well, saying: "I get it that some people just don't know what to make of me.
"So let me tell you. The family I'm from, well no one had their name on big buildings," Clinton said in a reference to Trump, whose name is plastered across his properties.
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She said her family built a better life and a better future for their children, using whatever tools they had and "whatever God gave them”.
Clinton also appealed to voters beyond the party, praising Arizona Senator John McCain, a former Republican candidate for president, as a war hero, and the military service of the son of Trump's running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence.
"I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans and independents," she said.
Clinton said it would be her "primary mission" to create more opportunities and more good jobs with rising wages, and to confront stark choices in battling determined enemies and "threats and turbulence" around the world and at home.
"America is once again at a moment of reckoning. Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart," said Clinton, a former secretary of state.
"No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance - looking for steady leadership."
After the speech the Trump campaign said Clinton had described “a fantasy universe”, not reality.
Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said: "Hillary Clinton's speech was an insulting collection of cliches and recycled rhetoric.
“She spent the evening talking down to the American people she's looked down on her whole life.”
At a rally in Iowa yesterday Trump said he did not want to watch the speech.
He said: "I think we'll stay here all night because I don't really want to go home and watch that crap."
The speech capped a four-day nominating convention that opened in turmoil after a leak of hacked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails showed party officials favoured Clinton over her former rival Bernie Sanders.
DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Clinton ally, resigned over the saga but this did not stop angry Sanders supporters disrupting the convention and undermining efforts by Clinton and Sanders to present a united front.
And on Thursday it was reported that the FBI is investigating a cyber-attack against another Democratic Party group, which may be related to an earlier hack against the DNC.
Some senior members of the Democratic Party have said the DNC hacking incident has links to Russian hackers and that Moscow is trying to meddle in the US election to help Trump win.
Trump has denied this accusation but did make a direct appeal this week to Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails.