Two Hillary Clinton staffers discussed the importance of stacking a diverse crowd behind Clinton during a campaign stop in March and spoke of generating "U-S-A" chants as a contrast to the "angry white guy U-S-A chants" at Trump rallies when he "spews un-American hate talk," hacked emails released by WikiLeaks show.
Oren Shur, the director of paid media for Hillary for America, sent an email to Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, on March 7, 2016, with the idea.
"Just a thought … in the Miami speech, the diverse crowd behind HRC holding the little American flags was very cool–and at one point, a small U-S-A chant broke out," Shur wrote.
"Maybe something like this is already in works," Shur continued, "but wonder if tomorrow night, we should be more purposeful about generating the U-S-A, U-S-A chants during her riff about the need for togetherness and unity (assuming that’s still part of the speech), with people holding the little American flags–since that’s what America is really about. Would be a subtle, yet powerful, contrast to the angry white guy U-S-A chants at Trump events when he spews un-American hate talk."
"I really like that," Mook responded.
On March 8, the day after the Miami rally, Clinton held a rally in Cleveland, Ohio as results poured in from the Michigan and Mississippi primaries.
The crowd behind her waved little American flags and "USA" chants were started during the "unity" portion of Clinton’s speech as planned. It was the only time the crowd chanted "USA" during her 20-minute long remarks.