Toward the end of the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, debate moderator Lester Holt asked Trump what he meant when he said Clinton “doesn’t have a presidential look.”
While Trump (predictably) tried to evade the question, Clinton delivered one of the most powerful moments of the night, reminding America how Trump has described women in the past.
“This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs, and dogs,” she said. “And someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers…”
In response, Trump started: “I never said…” but Clinton continued.
“Who have said women don’t deserve equal pay unless they do as good of a job as men. And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest—he loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them—and he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy.’ Then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping’ because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name. Her name—”
“Where did you find this?” Trump repeated several times, interrupting Clinton.
“…is Alicia Machado. And she has become a US citizen. And you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”
Now, Hillary for America has released a video featuring former Miss Universe Alicia Machado describing her interactions with Donald Trump, echoing claims made by Clinton in the debate.
In the video, Machado recounts verbal abuse and humiliation. She says Trump publicly degraded her for gaining weight, telling her, "you look ugly," and "you look fat," as well as often greeting her as "Miss Piggy," or "Miss Housekeeping."
"I was very scared of him. He'd yell at me all the time," she says.
Having recently become a US citizen, Machado felt empowered to tell her story. And it gives us a clear response to Trump's public denial of the allegations.
He is explicitly seen describing how the Miss Universe winner had gone from "118 or 117 pounds" to "160 or 170."
"So this is somebody that likes to eat," he tells an interviewer.
Machado describes her experience as "humiliating" and says it turned into a joke of "The Fat Miss Universe".
The behaviour caused her a great deal of emotional pain and anguish -- to the point the then 19-year-old developed an eating disorder.
The video is an undoubtedly clever move from the Clinton campaign, along with a host of female-specific content which highlights how problematic a Trump presidency could be.