WASHINGTON — (CNN) For those who thought the unusual story line related to Donald Trump’s hands had left the 2016 campaign trail with Sen. Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton does not appear quite ready to let it go.
The former secretary of state has mentioned the need for “steady hands” twice in the last two days, a not-so-subtle reference to the Republican front-runner’s habit of publicly defending the size of his hands.
Clinton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday that she had no interest in responding to Trump’s “constant stream of insults,” in reference to Trump’s habit of taking colorful shots at his campaign opponents on the trail and on social media.
“Let me talk about what I will do, what I have done and what kind of commander and chief I will be. Because that is what I think that is what is at stake in this election,” Clinton said in response to a Trump question. “We need steady, smart, strong minds and hands in the White House, in the Situation Room, to deal with the problems we face around the world.”
The need for “steady hands” is a generally new talking point for Clinton.
The former secretary of state said Monday in a speech to the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee that the country needs “steady hands, not a president who says he is neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who knows what on Wednesday because everything is negotiable.”
Trump has been playing defense on the size of his hands for months. Earlier this year, Sen. Marco Rubio opened up an attack against the frontrunner by questioning the size of his digits.
“He’s always calling me Little Marco. And I’ll admit he’s taller than me. He’s like 6’2, which is why I don’t understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5’2,” Rubio said in March. “And you know what they say about men with small hands? You can’t trust them.”
The comment was an only slightly indirect reference to the size of Trump’s penis. The front-runner responded during a debate by saying there was “no problem” with the size of his hands — or something else.
“He referred to my hands — ‘if they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee,” Trump said.
Clinton’s campaign was animated in February at the absurdity of the debate over the size of Trump’s hands. Many aides thought it perfectly exemplified the difference between the tenor of the Republican debate compared to that on the Democratic size.
Former President Bill Clinton even got in on the joke.
“I think they were trying to give us an anatomy lesson,” Clinton said during a March rally in Detroit.
Trump defended the size of his hands again Monday when CNN asked him about Clinton’s recent calls for steady hands.
“I have the steadiest hands, look at those hands,” Trump said, clenching his fist, during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Far steadier than hers.”
Clinton is not the only person associated with her campaign who has taken to noting the need for “steady hands.”
While opening a Clinton rally in Phoenix on Monday, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez said the presidency isn’t about “whether you have big hands, but steady hands.”
Clinton aides did not respond to emails asking whether they are telling their surrogates — and candidate — to subtly go after Trump’s hands.
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