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At a rally in Cleveland this afternoon, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton began her remarks with a reprised joke from the previous night’s charity banquet.

“I have now spent 4.5 hours on stage with Donald proving once again I have the stamina to be president,” Clinton said, drawing laughs and cheers from the 1,600 supporters who gathered a college gymnasium in Cleveland.

Hillary Clinton Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

Directly behind Clinton, a woman wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “Nasty Woman”. The phrase has become something of a feminist rallying cry ever since Trump leaned into his mic during the third and final debate on Wednesday and spit the words, intended as an insult.

Clinton also attacked Trump for his brazen admission that he would keep Americans “in suspense” about whether the Republican nominee will concede the election should he lose in November. At a Thursday rally, Trump said he would accept the legitimacy of the election results – if he won.

“Make no mistake,” Clinton told the crowd, “by doing that he is threatening our democracy.”

“Look, if you lose an election – I have lost an election – you don’t feel very good the next day,” Clinton continued. “But we know in our country the difference between leadership and dictatorship.”

Prior to the rally, Clinton met with two high-profile activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement: Brittany Packnett and DeRay McKesson. Over the past 18 months on the trail, Clinton has been confronted by activists challenging her past support for drug policies that wrecked black communities.

Today, Clinton credited these honest and at turns frank conversations with activists and young leaders for helping to inform her policy agenda to reform the criminal justice system and improve relationships between the police and communities of color.

“All the advocates and activists who have challenged us to think about these issues of race and justice and equality and opportunity in new and powerful ways really deserve our appreciation,” Clinton said.

“I am going to do everything I can to lift these issues up because one of my hopes for my presidency will be to root out systemic racism and bigotry and discrimination in whatever form it takes.”