--- title: Hillary Clinton Will Fight Donald Trump for Republicans description: Hillary Clinton began her play for Republican and independent voters, after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee. canonical: https://time.com/4318304/hillary-clinton-general-election-donald-trump-nominee/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-04T19:33:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:11.966Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Begins Push for Republican and Independent Voters og:description: "Let’s got off the red or the blue, let’s get on the American team" og:url: https://time.com/4318304/hillary-clinton-general-election-donald-trump-nominee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2014d69326cf94b1/698891e5a988ca76b46b7b7c/hillary-clinton-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In Indiana og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Begins Push for Republican and Independent Voters twitter:description: "Let’s got off the red or the blue, let’s get on the American team" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2014d69326cf94b1/698891e5a988ca76b46b7b7c/hillary-clinton-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Begins Push for Republicans and Independents Worried About Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a5e6cfeb-065b-413d-86cb-f5711bf8a92b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 85,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 37.0% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 4, 2016 7:33 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop at the Douglass Park Gynasium on May 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop at the Douglass Park Gynasium on May 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.Joe Raedle/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 4, 2016 7:33 PM UTC Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Wednesday began her play for Republican and independent voters, after [Ted Cruz](http://time.com/4317340/ted-cruz-drops-out-suspends-campaign-speech-transcript/) and [John Kasich](http://time.com/4317997/republican-party-donald-trump-john-kasich-ted-cruz-indiana/?xid=homepage) dropped out of the race, making [Donald Trump the presumptive Republican nominee](http://time.com/4316170/indiana-primary-results-donald-trump-ted-cruz-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-republicans/). “Let’s get on the American team,” Clinton said during a CNN interview, after she mentioned Republicans and independents whom she’s met on the campaign trail. “Let’s got off the red or the blue, let’s get on the American team.” She called Trump a “blustering, bullying guy” and a “loose cannon,” referencing his comments about women, Muslims and nuclear weapons. “I think it’s a risk,” she said. “I think he is a loose cannon and loose cannons tend to misfire.” Clinton said she is prepared for the kind of attacks Trump routinely leveled at his primary opponents, who she said weren’t able to effectively take him on “because they actually agreed with him” on issues such as the minimum wage and climate change. “If he wants to go back to the playbook of the 1990s, if he wants to follow in the footsteps of those who have tried to knock me down and take me out of the political arena, I’m more than ready for him to do that,” she said. Trump, for his part, has said Clinton would be “poor president” and that he looks forward to turning his attention to taking her on in the general election. On Wednesday, Clinton also drew comparisons between the campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—who [won the Indiana primary Tuesday](http://time.com/4316170/indiana-primary-results-donald-trump-ted-cruz-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-republicans/)—and her 2008 run, noting that, like Sanders, she stayed in the race until the end but still lost the nomination. “I won Indiana, I won West Virginia, I won a lot of states,” she said. “But I couldn’t close the gap in pledged delegates.” Clinton is currently leading Sanders with 1,701 delegates to his 1,411\. She is also leading in super delegates, with 522 to Sanders’ 39, [according to the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/primary-calendar-and-results.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4318304/hillary-clinton-general-election-donald-trump-nominee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4318304/hillary-clinton-general-election-donald-trump-nominee/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Begins Push for Republicans and Independents Worried About Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-05-04T19:33:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:11.966Z","description":"\"Let’s got off the red or the blue, let’s get on the American team\"","url":"https://time.com/4318304/hillary-clinton-general-election-donald-trump-nominee/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2014d69326cf94b1/698891e5a988ca76b46b7b7c/hillary-clinton-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2014d69326cf94b1/698891e5a988ca76b46b7b7c/hillary-clinton-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In Indiana","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In Indiana","creditText":"Joe Raedle/Getty Images","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/4318304/hillary-clinton-general-election-donald-trump-nominee/","name":"Hillary Clinton Begins Push for Republicans and Independents Worried About Donald Trump"}}]}] ```