Hillary Clinton told an audience in the North East that the “future of freedom is at stake”, as she addressed gun violence in the USA, Donald Trump’s re-election bid, and sexist hate.
Speaking on a visit to South Shields, the ex-US secretary of state also paid tribute to the Queen as she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee and revealed her love for hit TV show Derry Girls. Mrs Clinton was the guest at the annual South Shields Lecture organised by former MP David Miliband, which was held at Harton Academy on Friday evening.
In a wide-ranging discussion in front of a packed crowd, the 74-year-old former first lady said it was “almost impossible to convey the horror” felt after a spate of shootings in her home country – including the killing of 19 children and two teachers at a school in Texas.
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Mrs Clinton said she had “hope that there will be some steps taken” by US lawmakers to address the crisis, which she called a “sickness that is aided and abetted by political opportunists who know there is this hardcore culture surrounding gun sellers and buyers”. She added: “We have lost control and we have got to try and regain it.”
The former Democratic presidential candidate, whose great-grandfather was a coal miner from Stanley in County Durham, was asked by Mr Miliband how to defeat her 2016 opponent Donald Trump should he seek a return to the White House in 2024. She said it would be “very difficult” and that “a campaign against him needs to have started yesterday and, if not, then at the latest today and tomorrow.”
Mrs Clinton added: “Whoever runs against him has to have the electoral field in as strong a shape as possible, has to figure out how to deflect and divert attention from the antics and everything being done, and come up with an agenda that will break through to enough people that they will believe that it is too risky to vote for Trump again.”
After decades spent under intense public scrutiny and having earlier spoken about a rise in online hate directed at women in power, Mrs Clinton was asked by Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Philiipson what advice she would given to young women who want to enter politics. She replied that you “have to go into it in today’s world with your eyes wide open”, adding: “Given the virulence of social media you do have to think about how to handle that, including in some instances how to protect yourself.
"That is not something I say lightly and I certainly wish I did not have to say it. But there is so much misogyny and nasty comments made about women in the public eye on social media and, sadly, there have been occasions here and in my own country where unbalanced people act on those things.”
As people across the UK celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Mrs Clinton joined the tributes to the “incredibly impressive” monarch.
She said: “It is not only what she has done, it is how she has done it. She has been a remarkable unifier and symbol for a long time in your country’s history. In meeting her she is quite funny, quick to laugh or make a quip, she is very smart and she knows a lot. She restrains herself from interfering in government, but she can have a conversation about nearly anything – including classified material about advances in military weaponry that the UK government is considering.”
Mrs Clinton also shared her views on Brexit, particularly in Northern Ireland, saying that it had put the Good Friday Agreement is “in peril” and risked a return to violence that would be a “tragedy”.
She was also asked about Channel 4 series Derry Girls, which follows a group of friends in 1990s Northern Ireland and featured a cameo from her daughter Chelsea in its season finale. Praising the show’s creator Lisa McGee, Mrs Clinton said: “I think it is spot on, I think it is glorious. It is so funny and so clever and so smart, I am a huge fan.”
Mrs Clinton, who was also a senator before serving as Barack Obama’s secretary of state, closed by telling the crowd that she remained optimistic about the world’s future and that being so was necessary as “we are in a struggle for this future we share”.
She said: "The rise of authoritarianism, the blowback on human rights, and women’s rights, and gay rights, and everything else where people were feeling a sense of possibility and pursuing their own dreams. The real future of freedom, as we think of it, is at stake.
"When I look at the world it is painful to think that our two democracies [the UK and US] are not up to the task, that we cannot figure out how to solve problems, and in my country that we would politicise a disease like Covid and have people in positions of power showing contempt for experts and science and ridiculing the efforts to keep us safe and alive. It was incredibly troubling.” Mrs Clinton added: “I do remain optimistic, but I am a worrier and a realist and I know we have some tough headwinds.”
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