Has Hillary Clinton jumped the shark?
I covered Bill Clinton in 1992 — the first time Hillary Clinton impressed me. She was 45, a great speaker. They said we were getting two for one. It worked.
For the past 27 years — nearly three decades —Hillary Clinton has never really left the American stage: First Lady, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, twice failed Presidential candidate and constantly being covered by the media.
But something truly historic, a true turning point, happened this week:
- The Democrat presidential frontrunners were looking weak. Joe Biden is hurt by his Ukraine/China/Hunter Biden scandal and sagging fundraising numbers, Bernie Sanders is the oldest candidate and recently had a heart attack and everyone was after the other top tier candidate Elizabeth Warren, who has her own set of major troubles. People were looking for more options.
- Many were speculating that Hillary Clinton, making a national book tour, was anxious to get back into the race. First she said something slightly delusional (that she could beat President Trump “again,’’ because she won more popular votes, ignoring the fact that she lost 30 of the 50 states).
But then she said something that hurts her no matter how you spin it.
The former secretary of state took the Russia narrative over a cliff and officially jumped the shark on the Campaign HQ podcast while attacking a fellow Democrat (and a military veteran), U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii saying:
“They are also going to do third party again… I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate… She is a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset. They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate, and so I do not know who it’s going to be, but I can guarantee you they will have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states that they most need it.”
I’ve covered campaigns as a journalist and I’ve done public relations for CEOs and elected and public and nonprofit officials. And I’ve written a lot of stories. There are two possibilities here and neither helps Hillary Clinton:
Scenario 1: Hillary somehow knows exactly what she’s talking about and is totally telling the truth.
It’s hard to fathom. Her remarks were called “kooky’’ and a conspiracy theory and “crazy’’ and “bizarre’’ but for the sake of argument, let’s assume it’s all somehow true, that:
- “The Manchurian Candidate’’ is real and somehow Russia loves Trump and got Trump elected. And somehow they told their enemy Hillary their secrets while somehow alluding all the investigators looking into that theory.
- They now have this plan to re-elect Trump by dividing the Democrats by having Tulsi run as a third party candidate (though Tulsi has said she will not do so).
- That this former Secretary of State who couldn’t get the “reset button’’ right, who is totally disliked by the Russians somehow knows exactly what they’re doing.
Even if this is all true, it still sounds….CRAZY.
Crazy and outrageous. Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders agreed. Trump concluded Hillary has gone “crazy’’ while Sanders tweeted, “People can disagree on issues but it is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Tulsi is a foreign asset.”
Back in the 1990s, when authors came out with less crazy-sounding theories about the Clintons, the Clintons unleashed masterful PR people (including a young George Stephanopoulos) to make those theories sound insane. Conservatives would come up with stuff and simply be written off as crazy people. It happened again and again and again.
Going too Far (Again): How McCarthyism peaked then crashed
After communists took over Europe and China in the 1940s, a mad rush began in the United States to find and expose communist sympathizers in government. These efforts made Richard Nixon a rising star.
But then Joseph McCarthy went too far, by seeming to accuse everyone of being communist. Similarly, Hillary Clinton has moved from concern about Russian interference in our elections (Russia has actually tried to impact every U.S. election for the past century) to accusing Trump and now Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein of somehow being in some “vast conspiracy.’’ MSNBC even has hosts referring to Russia as “our enemy’’ (FYI, we’ve never declared war on Russia and even embraced the Soviet Union as an ally during World War II).
Progressive author Caitlin Johnstone noted this single MSNBC clip circulated on Twitter shows “Everything Ugly about the Russia Smears.’’ Note the pundits literally allegedly people are Russian spies because they didn’t repeat the lie.
All good humor is rooted in truth: it’s funny because it exaggerates something that is actually apparent to all. The satire site Babylon Bee went viral with an article saying “Hillary Clinton Asked to Leave Costco after Repeatedly accusing Sample Lady of Being a Russian Asset.’’
Yes, I know truth is stranger than fiction, that crazy sounding things and miracles can and do happen. But note it often takes decades to prove that a miracle was real. And in the meantime, a lot of people wind up dismissing saints as crazy people until years or decades later when the full story comes out.
And whether Hillary Clinton’s latest words are true or even remotely slightly possible, this still sounds crazy. And it’s hard to imagine donors who gave her a billion dollars would back a future run after hearing that recording.
Scenario 2: Hillary is still bitter she lost and still clinging to any excuse to blame anyone but herself for her defeat.
It’s hard to imagine Hillary Clinton’s latest remarks will help her, her family (her daughter is considering a run for Congress), the Democratic Party or anyone who pushed impeachment or any stories about Russia, Ukraine, etc., etc.
She’s increasingly saying things that make little sense: Just last week, she tweeted praise for the women who walked in space and claimed: “When I was a little girl, I wrote to NASA and told them I dreamed of being an astronaut. They wrote back and said they weren’t taking girls.’’
Immediately the “little girl’’ claim was exposed as impossible: First consider the notion that a paid NASA employee would type a cruel letter to a “little girl” on government time (rather than ignore it). Then consider these facts: Hillary was born in 1947, NASA was founded in mi-1958, NASA didn’t put the first astronaut in orbit until 1961 (when she was 14) and the first spacewalk occurred in 1965 (when she was 18). Little girl?
Her latest “Russian conspiracy’’ comments are shockingly similar to her most infamous January 1998 comments when Hillary blamed “a vast right wing conspiracy’’ for a home made mess.The world knew her husband well enough to know what was obvious. She, seemingly, did not.
This debacle helps Tulsi Gabbard. This helps discredit the Russia narrative that Clinton first began pushing in 2016. This helps support the theory that there is an Establishment “Swamp’’ out to get any one that doesn’t toe their line. And it certainly helps Donald Trump.
But how does all of this help poor Hillary? What the heck does she get out of making this case?
She was once so impressive. Then she spent 30 years in the meat grinder of national politics. She now, sadly sounds a lot like Lola in the Barry Manilow hit “Copacabana.’’
As Manilow sang:
“Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl
But that was 30 years ago, when they used to have a show
Now it’s a disco, but not for Lola
Still in the dress she used to wear
Faded feathers in her hair
She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half-blind
She lost her youth and she lost her Tony
Now she’s lost her mind.”
