While a lot of media might focus on Donald Trump's name-calling -- saying Hillary Clinton is a "world-class liar" and "crooked" -- another theme is emerging.
In a speech this morning, Trump once again made the case that Clinton isn't a real ally to minorities, including women and gay people, because she doesn't favor Trump's hardline immigration ideas. And now he's connecting that argument to his accusations that Clinton is beholden to special interests, which he says "totally own her."
He slammed Clinton, as he'd done before in a speech after the Orlando shooting, for not supporting his plan to ban all Muslims from entering the country.
"I only want to admit people who share our values and love our people," said Trump. "Hillary Clinton wants to bring in people who believe women should be enslaved and gays put to death."
Then Trump accused Clinton of personally profiting from money from Islamic countries that are antiwomen and anti-LGBT.
"Hillary Clinton accepted $58,000 in jewelry from the government of Brunei when she was secretary of State -- plus millions more for her foundation," said Trump. "The sultan of Brunei has pushed oppressive Sharia law, including the punishment of death by stoning for being gay."
Brunei is a sticking point with LGBT people, who are still boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel, owned by the sultan. Numerous celebrities, including John Legend, Jay Leno, and Lisa Vanderpump, had said at different points that they couldn't attend events there because of the hotel's ownership.
"The government of Brunei also stands to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Hillary's Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she would absolutely approve if given the chance," suggested Trump, even though Clinton has reversed course during the Democratic primary season and said she has concerns about the deal.
Trump is again tapping another sticking point with some LGBT activists. Cleve Jones, famous for organizing the national AIDS quilt and other actions, wrote an op-ed in 2015 for The Advocate in which he suggested, "TPP will do nothing to promote LGBT equality in signatory countries. In fact, it is our fear that if the TPP is enacted, we will see further slippage of human rights for LGBT people around the globe."
A number of activist groups called on President Obama to remove Malaysia and Brunei from the agreement over their human rights violations. This nation's cadre of out ambassadors wrote an op-ed trying to assuage concerns over the trade agreement, claiming it would actually help spread equality by spreading American values.
Trump didn't stop with Brunei, though. He accused Clinton of taking money via speeches, the Clinton Foundation, or other secretive back-door means, from a series of countries with antigay practices.
"Hillary Clinton took up to $25 million from Saudi Arabia, where being gay is also punishable by death," he said. "Hillary took millions from Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and many other countries that horribly abuse women and LGBT citizens."
What Trump didn't say is whether any of his criticism extends to policy. Some in the past have suggested, for example, that the United States should stop sending foreign aid to countries with antigay policies. Instead, Trump focused on Clinton and accused her of trying to hide connections to these countries.
"To cover up her corrupt dealings, Hillary Clinton illegally stashed her State Department emails on a private server," he said, before suggesting that foreign governments have stolen those emails and assembled a "blackmail file" on Clinton.
"This fact alone disqualifies her from the presidency," he said. "We can't hand over our government to someone whose deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies."
It's hard to take Trump's play for LGBT voters seriously, though, when the day before this speech he met with evangelical leaders and announced an advisory board that includes the likes of Michele Bachmann and a sort of who's who of the antigay world.
Still, Trump seems so confident in his tactic of claiming Clinton isn't a real ally to parts of her base that he rolled out a new version of that argument, this time targeting African-American and Hispanic voters.
"She can't claim to care about African-American and Hispanic workers when she wants to bring in millions of new low-wage workers to compete against them," said Trump, implying his idea for building a wall and deporting millions of immigrants would be better for the economy and better for minorities.
"She has pledged to grant mass amnesty and in her first 100 days, end virtually all immigration enforcement, and thus create totally open borders in the United States," said Trump. "The first victims of her radical policies will be poor African-American and Hispanic workers who need jobs. They are the ones she will hurt the most."
In other words, the real populist in this campaign is Donald Trump -- or so says Donald Trump.
"She believes she is entitled to the office. Her campaign slogan is 'I'm with her,'" he said in one of his biggest applause lines. "You know what my response to that is? I'm with you: the American people."
