Sorry, Democrats, but the head of the National Security Agency just shot down one of your favorite talking points on why Clinton lost the election: it was the Russians’ fault. Apparently, the hacking of the Democratic National Committee didn’t sway the election, which brings us back to the original reason why Clinton probably lost: she sucked.
Via The Hill:
National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers said Sunday that he does not believe the publication of stolen Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.“I don't think in the end it had the effect that [the hackers] had hoped it might,” Rogers said during a panel at the Halifax International Security Forum.
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Az.) expressed a similar sentiment on Saturday, stating that, "I do not think that the outcome of the election was impacted by Russian hacking.”
“I would agree with that assessment,” Rogers said Sunday, although he did not specifically name Russia. Last week, he had said there was no doubt “a nation state” intentionally tried to interfere in the U.S. election.
Clinton’s numbers of trust and honesty were already abysmal prior to the email hacks. So, the hacks didn’t help, but it certainly didn’t bring her down. She ignored large swath of voters, particularly those in the white working class, she couldn’t get key groups of the Obama coalition excited about her candidacy, and millions of Obama supporters flipped for Trump this election. That’s not because of emails. It’s because she had a terrible campaign, a terrible message, and assumed that millions of Democrats would turn out for her in record numbers. All turned out to be false. Clinton lost because she’s a) not Barack Obama; b) she was not popular; and c) she ran, as she did in 2008, a bad campaign. She’s not a good campaigner. That, coupled with her allegations of unethical dealings at the Clinton Foundation, her email fiasco, and the general dissatisfaction with those from the established political class, created many obstacles. Granted, Trump wasn’t popular either (he was more trusted though), but he visited the states that have been suffering the most, promised he would fight to keep their jobs here in the country, and was not a politician. It was time for a change and Trump was the guy. Oh, and unlike Trump, Republicans didn’t nominate someone who was under FBI investigation.
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