RNC chairman thought Hillary Clinton should have smiled more during Commander-in-Chief Forum

(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

published 8 September 2016

Sure, Hillary Clinton spent 30 minutes discussing the alarmingly high suicide rate among veterans, the stigma of mental health issues, and the implication of sending ground troops to Syria, but Reince Priebus still thought she should have smiled more during Wednesday's Commander-in-Chief Forum.

The Republican National Committee chairman made his observation on Twitter, saying, "Hillary Clinton was angry + defensive the entire time — no smile and uncomfortable — upset that she was caught wrongly sending our secrets." Donald Trump also wasn't grinning from ear to ear during his time onstage, not even when he brought up his admiration for Vladimir Putin and made the helpful suggestion that the military have its own justice system, but that didn't garner a tweet from Priebus — instead, he lauded Trump for his promise of "peace through strength" and making "vigilance & toughness the cornerstone of his presidency."

This isn't the first time a man felt the need to tell Clinton to smile during this election season, and her campaign responded as such. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.