Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ripped into Donald Trump on Hillary Clinton's behalf at a rally in New Hampshire on Monday. Warren was playing the role of a sassy friend with the snark to say the things Clinton either could or would not say.
"Get this, Donald. Nasty women are tough. Nasty women are smart. And nasty women vote," Warren told a crowd of an estimated 4,000 folks bundled in jackets and vests on the campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, surrounding by blazing orange and red fall foliage. "And, on Nov. 8, we nasty women are going to march our nasty feet to cast our nasty votes to get you out of our lives forever."
Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton "such a nasty woman" during their final debate last week in Las Vegas. And while Clinton herself has been hesitant to acknowledge the insult, Warren embraced it Monday.
The crowd cheered and laughed as Warren dug in deeper.
Warren has become a sort of attack-dog surrogate on the Clinton campaign, insulting Trump both on the stump and on social media. She's also the darling of the progressive left and fundamentally more animated on the campaign trail.
Where Clinton is wonky and private, Warren is populist and energetic. She's not shy to throw some shade at Trump, even seeming to relish her role.
"He thinks that because he has a mouth full of Tic Tacs that he can force himself on any woman within groping distance," Warren said, referencing Trump and his allegations of sexual misconduct.
When Clinton took the mic, it's as though she was picking up the baton in a relay race, after the first runner had given her a huge lead and she just wanted to keep the momentum going.
Clinton herself did not once utter the phrase "nasty woman" onstage, but she seemed to savor Warren's scathing lines.
"I kind of expect if Donald heard what she just said, he's tweeting away," Clinton said. "She gets under his thin skin like nobody else."
Clinton has a sizable lead in the polls, particularly among women; but there have long been questions about Clinton's voter enthusiasm and how that might translate into turnout on Election Day.
Perhaps "nasty woman" is the rallying cry the Democrats need, their own version of the "basket of deplorables."
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