--- title: Hillary Clinton Foreign Policy Speech Beat Donald Trump description: She won one the old-fashioned way in California Thursday, with substance. canonical: https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/ author: Joe Klein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-03T17:17:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:00.149Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Clinton Beat Trump With Substance og:description: In her foreign policy speech Thursday. og:url: https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt479417f4ad953c94/698896222dce0132c29e9542/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address on June 2, 2016 in San Diego, California. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Clinton Beat Trump With Substance twitter:description: In her foreign policy speech Thursday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt479417f4ad953c94/698896222dce0132c29e9542/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Hillary Clinton Beat Donald Trump With Substance > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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=fe0d2589-b943-4521-9b60-7b454dcf0fa0&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. Brief is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * D.C. Brief is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fe0d2589-b943-4521-9b60-7b454dcf0fa0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/subscribe?i=fe0d2589-b943-4521-9b60-7b454dcf0fa0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's politics newsletter? D.C. 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. ## Video: Hillary Clinton Tears Into Donald Trump on Foreign Policy [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton Tears Into Donald Trump on Foreign Policy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rgE6dpRM.m3u8) (2:14)  _Published 2016-06-02. Clearly enjoying herself, a confident Hillary Clinton unleashed a comprehensive indictment of Donald Trump’s foreign policy on Thursday and questioned his credentials to serve as the President._ by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Jun 3, 2016 5:17 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address on June 2, 2016 in San Diego, California. Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address on June 2, 2016 in San Diego, California. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Jun 3, 2016 5:17 PM UTC No sooner do I write a column [lamenting Hillary Clinton’s inability to “win” news cycles ](http://time.com/4354754/donald-trump-attack-missed-target/)than she starts winning them. She won one the old-fashioned way in California Thursday, with substance—but also with [high-class mockery and disdain](http://time.com/4355791/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-temperament/)—with [her brilliant speech](http://time.com/4355797/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-transcript/) about Donald Trump’s ridiculous attempts to articulate a foreign policy. The speech was so potent that Paul Ryan’s perfectly timed attempt to steal her thunder, by [finally endorsing Trump](http://time.com/4355647/paul-ryan-donald-trump-vote-endorsement/), fell flat. Why? Because Clinton used blunt, confident language for a change. There was almost a Thatcherite clarity to her attack on Trump’s foreign policy ideas: --- > “” --- It was devastating and Trump’s response was lame. He criticized the way she read from the teleprompter (actually she was pretty good…for her). And she raised an issue that not even Mitt Romney or Ted Cruz had taken on: Trump’s mental stability. “I’ll leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his” affection for dictators who have no love for the United States, she said. Sentence after sentence, example after example, hammered down on the tycoon’s head: his [support for the Tiananmen Square massacre](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/03/11/trump-just-called-tiananmen-square-a-riot-the-communist-party-will-be-pleased/), his admiration for [Vladimir Putin](http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/politics/donald-trump-praises-defends-vladimir-putin/) and [Kim Jung Un](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/265353-trump-kim-jong-un-deserves-credit-for-taking-out-rivals), his constantly shifting, feckless positions on ISIS. I suspect that this speech will have tremendous impact on this campaign. It may even work to Clinton’s benefit in the California primary to be held next Tuesday. The confidence of her rhetoric should have sent a message to Bernie Sanders: it’s time for you to suspend your windmill-tilting; there is serious business, the demolition of Donald Trump, to focus on now. She has shown a toughness and a tone and a level of impolitic candor that she has never demonstrated before. Going forward, I can see her using that same tone on other topics: Trump’s fetid immigration policy, his proposed budget, his shaky grasp on the U.S. Constitution. One other point: On the day before Clinton gave the speech, she received a Republican endorsement that really mattered. It was from [Retired Colonel Pete Mansoor](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-plans-major-foreign-policy-speech-in-california/2016/05/31/cf88c6c8-2768-11e6-a3c4-0724e8e24f3f%5Fstory.html), chairman of the military studies department at Ohio State, who had been a top aide to David Petraeus during the planning and execution of the Iraq surge. Mansoor is not a politician; quite the opposite. He is an exemplar of the best military tradition: duty, honor, country. He told Chris Hayes on MSNBC that Trump lacked the character to be President. He said that he’d never voted for a Democrat before in his life, but he would vote for Clinton this time. I suspect that Mansoor reflects the feelings of the U.S. military brass. The race will twist and turn over the next five months. Clinton may have a bad week next week, especially if she loses California. She still has obvious weaknesses as a candidate and as a human being. But this speech demonstrates that she knows just exactly how to go after Trump. His idiot-savant narcissism will never seem the same. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/"},"headline":"How Hillary Clinton Beat Donald Trump With Substance","datePublished":"2016-06-03T17:17:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:00.149Z","description":"She won one the old-fashioned way in California Thursday, with substance.","url":"https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Foreign Policy","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt479417f4ad953c94/698896222dce0132c29e9542/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joe Klein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joe-klein/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt479417f4ad953c94/698896222dce0132c29e9542/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address on June 2, 2016 in San Diego, California.","caption":"Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a national security address on June 2, 2016 in San Diego, California.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—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/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/","name":"How Hillary Clinton Beat Donald Trump With Substance"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hillary Clinton Tears Into Donald Trump on Foreign Policy","description":"Clearly enjoying herself, a confident Hillary Clinton unleashed a comprehensive indictment of Donald Trump’s foreign policy on Thursday and questioned his credentials to serve as the President.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rgE6dpRM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-02T20:45:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rgE6dpRM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/","duration":"PT2M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4356597/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-substance/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```