The Powerful Reason Chelsea Clinton Refuses To 'Hate' Donald Trump

Back in 2016, when Donald Trump was running against Hillary Clinton for the presidency, the two had some heated debates. But outside of debates, Trump said some seriously unkind things about Clinton. While it's true that opponents for the highest office in the United States have always run unflattering ads and said critical things of each other, many felt that some of the things Trump said about Hilary crossed the line from critical to out of line. 

He famously called her a "nasty woman" and also said she was "desperate and sad," "erratic," had a "bad temperament," and was "Constantly playing the woman's card" (via New Yorker). He gleefully encouraged his supporters each time they chanted the phrase "lock her up" with regard to Hilary and the controversy over her personal emails.

It would make sense that Hilary and her daughter Chelsea would not harbor many warm feelings for Trump considering this tumultuous past. But when asked whether they hate him, both mother and daughter gave surprising and similar answers.

In a recent interview with both Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, People Magazine directly asked the mother/daughter duo, "Do you hate Donald Trump?" 

There was a momentary pause, after which the former Secretary of State replied, "I don't hate him." She went on to explain, "I absolutely oppose his demagoguery, his dangerous rhetoric, his narcissism as it's acted out in our political system. I find what he, himself, has done, and what he's encouraged, to be a clear and present danger to our country, and I love our country."

Hilary then clarified, "It's not personal. I mean, he has said and done so many things that I think are dangerous, and I will do everything I can to speak out against that, and to encourage people to stand against it," she said. But with regard to the no-nonsense question that was asked of her, she made it clear that no, she does not in fact hate Donald Trump. It was at this point that Chelsea chimed in to clarify why hate is not the word either she or her mother would use in this situation. 

Chelsea Clinton answered the question posed by People by saying, "Donald Trump has not only weaponized hate, he has really kind of mainlined and mainstreamed hate into our political, cultural, social, even normative discourse. And so I do think it's really important — for those of us who find his demagoguery, his narcissism, his apparatus of hate so anathema to kind of what we believe is right and good and just and actually fundamentally American when we are our best selves — to not succumb to hate within us, because I think that weakens our position, weakens our ability to effectively stand against his actions."

She admitted that it's tempting to resort to hating someone you feel is doing harm, but that it is important not to do so.  

"I think it's important to not give in to the personal hatred — even though I find his machinations of hate so deeply troubling — to focus on what is troubling and try to counteract that and then try to preempt it without succumbing to the temptation of hatred," she said.