Clinton accomplished something — this was her authentic self. What’s more, she laid out her values, walked into a barroom and started a fight. It was as tough and brutal a takedown as anything I’ve ever seen her do. It showed she won’t hesitate to punch and counter punch and lay out the case against Trump.

It was intensely political, but not not ideological. These were not mere differences she laid out, she painted Trump as somebody who is dangerous. And she sought to present herself as utterly and completely presidential. It also served as a strong contrast with Trump’s free-flowing press conference about veterans at which he ranted about the press.

It was the first big, engaged battle of the general election. Everything up to now has just been skirmishes. She presented Trump not just as dangerous and unsteady, but also dismissed the things he wants to do in foreign policy as antithetical to U.S. values. She said when the U.S. doesn’t lead, bad guys rush in to fill the vacuum. It’s the complete opposite of his protectionist, somewhat isolationist rhetoric.

Clinton laid out a strong case for an internationalist, engaged foreign policy — why that’s important and why that makes the United States exceptional.

More: Hillary Clinton Speech Against Trump Shows Kind Of Fighter She’ll Be Against Him : NPR