RALEIGH, N.C. — Hours after Donald Trump's speech in New York, where he unleashed some of his most forceful attacks of the general election, Hillary Clinton took the stage here on Wednesday and responded with a single word: "Sigh."

"All he can do is try to distract us," Clinton told a crowd of 2,000 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, making particular reference to a false claim Trump made Tuesday to a group of evangelical leaders: that there's “nothing out there” about her religion. Clinton, a lifelong Methodist, has spoken for decades about her faith.

"That’s even why he’s attacking my faith." Clinton took a long pause and tilted her head to one side. "Sigh," she said, dead-panning the word into the microphone.

Clinton spoke on Wednesday afternoon with teleprompters, but the “sigh,” a campaign aide said after the speech, was not included in her prepared remarks.

Embodied in the ad-lib is Clinton's hands-off approach to Trump's sustained personal attacks, even as she intensifies her critique of his plans, rhetoric, and qualifications to be president. So far this month, Clinton has delivered a pair of major speeches against Trump, honing in first on his foreign policy credentials in a well-received address in San Diego, and second, just this Tuesday, on his economic record.