Out with her new book today about her defeat in the 2016 election “What Happened,” 69-year-old former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton blames everyone but herself for her loss. Picking on her Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tells the whole story of Hillary’s deceit, manipulation and hubris, suggesting that Bernie could have got out of the race sooner. Hillary saw herself as the anointed one because of her collusion with former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fl.) with whom she conspired to sabotage Bernie’s campaign. Hillary blames Bernie for “impugning” her character but she discredited herself many times over with her close personal ties to Wall Street, something Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) complained about, especially her vote for the 2001 bankruptcy reform bill.
Hillary acknowledged to group of students that her use of a private email server while Secretary of State didn’t help things, with the FBI conducting an investigation, eventually exonerating her July 5, 2016, weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Hillary’s email investigation conducted by former FBI Director James Comey eventually got him fired May 9. President Donald Trump’s former chief campaign strategist Stephen Bannon told PBS’s Charlie Rose that Trump’s decision to fire Comey was the worst blunder in U.S. political history. When Bannon got the ax Aug. 19, primarily because Hillary did such a good job of painting him as a White Supremacist in the 2016 campaign, he had no comment.. White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly concluded that Bannon made too many headlines especially after Trump’s response of Charlottesville.
Hillary’s book is such disingenuous nonsense that it’s difficult to fathom her many excuses for losing the 2016 election. Her fixation on Bernie exposes Hillary’s true hubris, essentially saying how dare Bernie for staying in the race. Bernie had more national following than Hillary, certainly warranting selection as her running mate. If Hillary wanted to capitalize on Bernie’s popularity, she should have picked him as her running mate. She mentions nothing about that in her book. After fingering Bernie, Hillary went after Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, complaining she did to her what consumer activist Ralph Nader did to former Vice President Al Gore in 2000. When that didn’t make sense, Hillary blamed “sexism” and “misogyny,” why she couldn’t capture white working class male voters, a group that flocked to Trump in the 2016 election having nothing to do with prejudice.
After her Nov. 8, 2016 loss to Trump, Hillary blamed former FBI Director James Comey for reopening her email investigation Oct. 28, 2016, only two weeks before the election. Comey didn’t talk openly about Hillary destroying 12 cell phones and paying a tech firm to scrub her private server of some 33,000 emails. Trump complained at campaign rally-after-rally that the destruction of evidence is the definition of obstruction of justice, yet Comey cleared Hillary on wrongdoing. Nov. 6, only two days before the election. When blaming Comey got old, Hillary shifted to Russian President Vladimir Putin for hacking the DNC’s emails and those of her former Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta. All the hacked material revealed a corrupt candidate relying on trickery to win the Nov. 8, election. When it came out she got debate questions in advance by interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brzaile, Hillary’s credibility sank.
Hillary talks in “What Happened” about former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) whose marriage to her personal assistant Huma Abedin created PR problems. But voters didn’t really care about Weiner or Abedin, only that Hillary kept explaining away too many campaign gaffes and ethical lapses. Calling Trump’s base a “basket of deplorables,” also didn’t excuse Hillary’s inability to appeal to white male working class voters. She blamed Trump for running a “reality TV show that expertly and relentlessly stoked Americans’ anger and resentment,” something so feeble, that it defies belief. Trump simply ran a better campaign highlighting Hillary’s ethical lapses, leaving at least swing-state voters skeptical of her behavior. Trump had voters questioning whether Hillary’s many lapses left her unsuitable for president, something that hurt her chances in battleground states.
When you consider that Hillary won three-million more popular votes than Trump, none of Hillary’s excuses make any sense. Bashing the Electoral College because it didn’t go her way shows Hillary’s ready to blame everyone but herself. She never came to grips with the fact that she carried too much baggage that eventually caught up with her. Whether it was old skeletons from the Whitewater days, her time as First Lady, stint in the U.S. Senate or time as Secretary of State, Hillary had too many things to explain away. Trump highlighted all those things, eventually prevailing in key battleground states to win the Electoral College. No matter how much Hillary wants to blame everyone else, she knows she was her own worst enemy. After eight years of former President Barack Obama, voters wanted something different in 2016—and it wasn’t Hillary Rodham Clinton.
