Hillary Clinton compares voting against Donald Trump to fighting on D-Day in Normandy
Hillary Clinton has come under fire for comparing the D-Day landings and the war against Nazi Germany to voting against Donald Trump in the US election.
Marking the anniversary of D-Day, the former presidential candidate wrote: “Eighty years ago today, thousands of brave Americans fought to protect democracy on the shores of Normandy.”
Mrs Clinton, the Democrat candidate who ran against Trump in 2016, added: “This November, all we have to do is vote.”
More than 4,400 Allied soldiers were killed on D-Day and many tens of thousands more, including French civilians, died in the ensuing Battle of Normandy as they fought to liberate Europe.
The former secretary of state’s comments were seized on by Republicans, who said her comments were disrespectful to those who fought in the Second World War.
Tommy Tuberville, the Republican senator for Alabama, said: “These Dems couldn’t be more dramatic and deranged.
“They’re comparing storming the beaches of Normandy on #dday to voting against Trump”.
Meanwhile, Marsha Blackburn, another Republican senator, said: “How disrespectful to our WWII heroes who faced unimaginable fear with immense courage 80 years ago today.”
Ben Shapiro, the Conservative political commentator, said: “What an enormously stupid and vile comment. Trump is not Hitler.
“And voting is not storming a beach under a hail of machine-gun fire to free millions from the tyranny of the Nazis.”
Sean Parnell, the combat veteran and author, said it is “impossible to capture just how loathsome a comment this is... WWII veterans deserve so much better than this”.
Mrs Clinton’s comments come after Joe Biden hinted at the threat his Republican rival poses to democracy in his D-Day address.
“Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it will be said when the moment came, we met the moment,” Mr Biden said.
“We stood strong, our alliances were made stronger. And we saved democracy in our time as well,” added the president.
Mr Biden did not mention Trump by name, but his speech offered a critique of the Republican nominee’s isolationist approach to foreign policy which he has embraced as he campaigns to return to the White House.
The Telegraph contacted Mrs Clinton’s office for comment.
