Alicia Machado won’t let Donald Trump have the last word with a handful of tweets.
Alicia Machado, who became acquainted with Trump after she won the 1996 Miss Universe pageant, responded to a Trump Twitter tirade on Friday after the Republican presidential nominee smeared her with a few tweets he sent before sunrise.
In an image posted on Friday, the former beauty queen accused Trump of generating “cheap lies” meant to intimidate and humiliate, though she didn’t directly address his Twitter comments urging Americans to watch “her sex tape.”
Written in Spanish, Machado, a staunch Clinton supporter, said Trump “insists on discrediting and demoralizing women, which is definitely one of his most terrifying characteristics.”
Full translation below:
“The Republican candidate and his campaign team are once again generating attacks, insults and trying to revive defamation and false accusations about my life. All this with the goal of intimidating, humiliating and throwing me off balance once again. The attacks that have surged are calumnies and cheap lies generated with bad intentions that don’t have any basis and have been spread by yellow journalists. This, of course, is not the first time that I face a situation like this. Through his campaign of hate, the Republican candidate insists on discrediting and demoralizing women, which is definitely one of his most terrifying characteristics. With this, he seeks to distract from attention to his real problems and his incapacity to pretend he is the leader of this great country.
“When I was barely a young woman the current candidate humiliated me, insulted me, and publicly disrespected me, as he used to do in private in the most cruel way. Just like what happened to me, it’s clear through the years that his actions and conduct have been repeated with other women through the decades. Therefore, I will continue standing up and sharing my story, my absolute support to Mrs. Clinton in the name of women, my sisters, aunts, grandmothers, cousins, friends and the feminine community. To my Latinas and in general, I want to thank everyone for their support, love and the respect toward my career, myself and my family. I became a citizen of this great nation because my daughter was born here and I wanted to exercise all my rights, among them, voting.
“I will continue standing firm in my experiences as Miss Universe and with you supporting me. I have been so pleased by so many kind words, by so much love. I am focusing on my career, my job as a mother and I will continue taking positive steps for the Latino community, I will continue as an activist for women’s rights and for the respect we deserve. I appreciate all your love and once again, thank you for your support. Thousands of blessings.”
Machado, a former Miss Universe champion, has said Trump called her “Miss Piggy” because she gained weight after the competition, and she said he also called her “Miss Housekeeping” because she is Latina. Clinton told Machado’s story at the first presidential debate between the two major political parties on Monday, and Trump stood by his comments about her weight in tweets and interviews throughout the week.
Jeffrey S. Overstreet
