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Hillary Clinton Had Something to Say About the “Shut Up” Moment at the Debate

MARK RALSTON/AFP, Getty Images

There's one moment from Tuesday night's debate that everyone seems to be talking about: the moment when Joe Biden asked Donald Trump, who repeatedly interrupted him, to "shut up, man." While some people are calling the moment "a mood," others are calling it a gendered double standard. In the same thread that author and lawyer Jill Filipovic called Biden's soundbite the "line of the night," she also expressed empathy for former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who debated Trump for the presidential seat in 2016.

"I so feel for Hillary right now because I’m positive she wanted to say that and couldn’t," Filipovic tweeted.

Clinton replied to the tweet, confirming this was true. "You have no idea," she wrote.

She seems to be implying that there was likely a lot more than just "shut up" that she wanted to say on the debate stage four years ago.

To combat the harmful belief that they are "too emotional" or "irrational" to be in politics, women politicians face added pressure to keep calm and cool-headed in heated debates, even when dealing with, for example, a rambling and aggressive man.

One columnist on Twitter delivered this point perfectly, writing, "Just a reminder that Hillary Clinton couldn't respond to Trump's yelling four years ago like Biden did yesterday because the Very Angry Womanz story would have been the only one," she wrote.

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also provided some strong examples of the double standards for women in politics, recently calling out the lack of criticism Republicans had for Trump in regards to the $70,000 he wrote off in "hairstyling expenses."

"Last year Republicans blasted a firehose of hatred + vitriol my way because I treated myself to a $250 cut & lowlights on my birthday. Where’s the criticism of their idol spending $70k on hairstyling? Oh, it’s nowhere because they’re spineless, misogynistic hypocrites? Got it," she wrote."

With these blatant double standards continuing and the mess that was last night's debate, it's hard not to feel discouraged right now. Chasten Buttigieg, husband to former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, was specifically concerned about how Clinton was holding up. "Has anyone checked in on @HillaryClinton? Girl I'm so sorry," he wrote. The former secretary of state, however, is more concerned about voter turnout.

"Thanks, I’m fine. But everyone better vote," Clinton responded.

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