--- title: Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton Hits Donald Trump on ISIS description: Hillary Clinton came out swinging at Donald Trump during the Democratic debate Saturday night, calling him ISIS's "best recruiter." canonical: https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-20T02:13:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:30.260Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Is "ISIS's Best Recruiter" og:description: Hillary Clinton came out swinging at Donald Trump during the Democratic debate Saturday night, calling him ISIS's "best recruiter." og:url: https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b660564c826a706/69887639a988ca58236b5cee/clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers a question at the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Is "ISIS's Best Recruiter" twitter:description: Hillary Clinton came out swinging at Donald Trump during the Democratic debate Saturday night, calling him ISIS's "best recruiter." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b660564c826a706/69887639a988ca58236b5cee/clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Is 'ISIS's Best Recruiter' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4e340d95-0426-41e4-a46a-f00ef75e70be&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2015-12-20. Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 20, 2015 2:13 AM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 20, 2015 2:13 AM UTC Hillary Clinton came out swinging at Donald Trump during the Democratic debate Saturday night, calling him ISIS’s “best recruiter.” [Read More: Democrats Clash in Final Debate of 2015](http://time.com/4155432/democratic-debate-third-data-breach/) Former Secretary of State Clinton was asked whether Trump’s thousands of fans are all wrong in their support for him. “A lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety,” she said. “Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make them think there are easy answers to very complex questions,” she said. Clinton also said that the country needed “to make sure the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don’t fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going out people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Does secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? Yes, I apologize. We should move on because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. [ MUSIC ] We're listening to the bickering back and forth. Maybe that's normal politics in Washington, but that is not the politics of higher purpose the people expect from our party. [ MUSIC ] And excuse me, no. Governor, now to be able to abide by the rules here, we'll call on you shortly. But I do wanna pick up on something. Actually passed, Comprehensive guns, safety legislation with a ban on combat assault weapons David. [ MUSIC ] They want American soldiers on the ground fighting them. [ MUSIC ] Giving them many more targets, and giving them a great recruiting opportunity. I believe in action, in which we put together a strong coalition of forces. [ MUSIC ] Out of pocket costs have gone up too much. And prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. The greed of wall street is destroying this economy. And it's destroying the lives of millions of Americans. This one falls under the category of " I have actually done this ". I believe that all of our kids should go into an income- based repayment plan. [ mmm ] [ MUSIC ] Must never surrender them to the fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos- [ APPLAUSE ] Of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Is 'ISIS's Best Recruiter'","datePublished":"2015-12-20T02:13:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:40:30.260Z","description":"A tough attack on the Republican frontrunner","url":"https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","democrats","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b660564c826a706/69887639a988ca58236b5cee/clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b660564c826a706/69887639a988ca58236b5cee/clinton3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers a question at the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester","caption":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers a question at the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester","creditText":"Brian Snyder—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/","name":"Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Is 'ISIS's Best Recruiter'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes","description":"Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lTPNqlFm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-20T05:14:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4156164/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-isis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```