On Monday, President Donald Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, which he falsely claimed used to have high rates of violent crime before erecting a barrier. The object of the speech was apparently to whip up support for a US-Mexico border wall, a project he failed to fund despite Republicans controlling Congress for two years. Democrats now control the House of Representatives, and the bipartisan spending bill awaiting his signature contains no funding for a wall. (But it does fund some new fences.)
The president might not get that "big, beautiful wall," but he certainly succeeded in stirring the crowd into a frenzy. During his speech, an enraged man in a MAGA hat stormed into the press area and attacked BBC cameraman Ron Skeans. The shocking incident was captured on video, and shows the Trump supporter yell "F*** the media" while getting dragged away by security. Skeans' colleague, Gary O'Donoghue, said the attack happened after Trump "repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias." (He also confirmed that Skeans is okay.)
The shameful attack on a member of the press, fueled by feckless Trump speeches calling the media "the enemy of the people," has attracted the most attention from this event. However, the Republican Party decided to focus on a less belligerent moment: When Trump said, "We’re only getting stronger together." The GOP turned the unifying, inspirational quote into a patriotic Trump 2020 poster.
In the replies, countless Twitter users pointed out that they stole the slogan from Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign: Stronger Together. (Well, she did win the popular vote by nearly three million, so I guess the slogan was pretty successful.) Okay, political slogans are pretty generic - Ronald Reagan used 'let's make America great again' in 1980 - but how do you plagiarize your opponent's slogan just three years later?
"Oh, hey, it's that thing where men pretend a woman doesn't exist until a man repeats what she said," snarked one Twitter user, while another added, "Well he stole her presidency. Might as well steal her slogan too." (In 2016, Trump won the electoral college, securing the presidency. FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller is currently investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the presidential election.)
Of course, it didn't take long for the image to hit Hillary's radar. (Hey, it's not like she's busy doing anything these days, aside from those long walks in the woods.) Clinton retweeted the GOP's 'Stronger Together' photo, commenting, "Now copy my plan on health care, a fairer tax system, and voting rights." Boom! The former Secretary of State delivers the perfect clapback...about three years after it matters, but hey, Twitter will take it.
In response, the GOP replied, "How about this: We’ll give you your slogan back if you run again."
Well, Clinton did say she would still 'like' to be President of the United States. Maybe the third time's the charm! (Or maybe not.)
