Sept. 9, 2016, is a day that should live in infamy for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Or, to use the words of a lesser president — her former boss, Barack Obama — it should at least be the defining “teachable moment” of her adult life.
On that day, speaking in New York City, Hillary was telling supporters what she was going to get done when — not if — she was elected president. “We’re going to keep working toward an AIDS-free generation, a goal that I set as secretary of state, and with your help we’re going to pass comprehensive gun laws,” she said over chants of “Hill-a-ry! Hill-a-ry!” according to a Time Magazine transcript.
“I know there are only 60 days left to make our case — and don’t get complacent, don’t see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment [from Donald Trump] and think, ‘Well, he’s done this time.’ We are living in a volatile political environment,” she said.
And then, in a moment of outrageous, offensive, inappropriate complacency, she said this: “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”
I think we can all safely remember how the next 60 days went. Yes, the loose-lipped “basket of deplorables” didn’t singlehandedly sink the Hillary ship — but if those words don’t appear in the first three paragraphs of her obituary, you’re probably reading The New York Times version.
If only there were a life lesson to be learned from this one. Like think before you talk. Or Tweet. (Or “X,” whatever we’re calling it now.) If there is, Hillary Clinton has been given roughly seven-and-a-half years to learn it. and it still hasn’t sunk in.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump easily beat Nikki Haley to effectively erase any “lane” (side note: that political primary phrase of art needs to be kicked to the curb like Don Lemon) she had to the nomination. Haley has vowed to press on — undaunted by polling, donor money woes and/or reality, one supposes.
Thus, given the circumstances, Hillary took to social media to urge Democrats to unite behind Biden. Apparently, the events of Sept. 9, 2016, were far, far from her mind. They shouldn’t have been.
“After the Republican primary in New Hampshire, the choice for November is becoming clearer than ever,” she wrote.
Is Hillary Clinton an election denier?
“Will you choose expanding freedom and strengthening democracy with Biden, or more abortion bans and election denialism with Trump?” [Emphasis mine.]
“I say: Four more years of progress.”
After the Republican primary in New Hampshire, the choice for November is becoming clearer than ever.
Will you choose expanding freedom and strengthening democracy with Biden, or more abortion bans and election denialism with Trump?
I say: Four more years of progress.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 24, 2024
Yes, election denialism is terrible. Unconscionable. It must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
… unless it’s Hillary doing it in 2016. Or the rest of her Democrat brethren doing it in 2000, 2004 and during the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial campaign. This was pretty much every second response to Hillary’s post, beginning with election-denier Hillary herself:
You of all people worried about somebody else being an election denier is rich. 😂 https://t.co/zNrcMFk2Th
— John 🌵🇺🇸 (@johninphx) January 24, 2024
“election denialism with Trump”
LMFAO! 😂🤣
Here’s 24 STRAIGHT MINUTES of Democrats denying election results pic.twitter.com/jEspQwXxIw
— E 🇺🇸 (@Simply4Truth_) January 24, 2024
Oh, and that’s just the past election denialism that Hillary and the Democrats are involved in. Here’s the ghost of election-denial present: Joe Biden calling Terry McAuliffe the “real governor” of Virginia despite the fact he lost the 2021 gubernatorial election — and saying it on the same day the New Hampshire primary took place, to boot:
Election Denier Joe Biden: “Hello, Virginia! And the real governor, Terry McAuliffe!” pic.twitter.com/NFU7Uqu0ja
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 23, 2024
And here’s the ghost of election-denial future: Hillary Clinton herself, predicting that the GOP will rig the 2024 elections before they’ve even happened:
Let’s talk about election denialism. pic.twitter.com/o522HqrCdy
— Kurt Schemers (@KurtSchemers) January 24, 2024
Apparently, though, “election denialism with Trump” is the only thing that matters despite the Democrats fostering febrile conspiracy theories about every major election in the 21st century that they didn’t win or that they don’t expect to win.
Forget about the laughable idea that Biden represents “progress” or “strengthening democracy,” considering he’s botched the COVID-19 economic recovery and his party is fighting so hard for democracy that it’s indicting the political opposition on wafer-thin charges and trying to get him thrown off the ballot, two of the defining features of a banana republic. No, forget about all that. You have the unmitigated gall, Hillary, to tell us that we need to vote against “election denialism?”
Fine. Resign. The lot of you. Resign from your offices, resign from your charities and your corporate boards, resign from everything. Stay out of public life. You first, Mrs. Clinton, you and your president, too.
Or maybe — and this is perhaps the wisest idea — you just keep your mouth shut until this all blows over and stop pretending you’re some kind of political exemplar. “Basket of deplorables” has taught you nothing three-quarters of a decade after you uttered it, and it apparently never will. So just be quiet.
