Trump implies Clinton almost collapsed after second debate

Donald Trump on Thursday implied that Hillary Clinton almost collapsed after the second debate, revving up the conspiracy theories around the former secretary of state's health and stamina.

“I watched after the last debate, and after the second debate. She was tired, wow,” Trump said Thursday afternoon at a rally in Springfield, Ohio.


“She walked off that stage,” he added, then paused and said suggestively, “Well, she had a lot of people around. They had a lot of people around her, which was smart.”

Trump did not elaborate, but in the context of the campaign, he seemed to be suggesting that Clinton may have lacked the strength to stand, or was at risk of falling over.

In an incident on Sept. 11 caught on video and shared widely, Clinton nearly collapsed after a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York, and her campaign admitted afterward that she had pneumonia. It was a bad moment for the campaign, which was already responding to unsubstantiated claims that Clinton had serious health problems, peddled by some of her critics, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a prominent Trump surrogate.

After a few days off the trail, Clinton resumed campaigning, and there have been no incidents like it since. Still, Trump has continued to allude to her alleged lack of “stamina” in his stump speeches, a charge some critics have called sexist.

Clinton, for her part, has pointed to her debate performances — generally viewed as a net boon for her campaign — as proof that she lacks no such stamina.

She recently joked at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York: “Looking back, I’ve had to listen to Donald for three full debates. And he says I don’t have any stamina. That is 4½ hours. I have now stood next to Donald Trump longer than any of his campaign managers.”