It’s a love-hate idea, but one that’s not really outside the realm of possibility when you think about it. Former Breitbart editor Steve Bannon recently said that former Secretary of State and two-time presidential loser Hillary Clinton might run again. These rumors have been circling for months. Hillary has repeatedly said that she’s done, but not before blaming scores of people for costing her the 2016 election. Yeah, this whine tour is not close to being done. I mean, now that impeachment theater is moving along on the Hill, she’s been doing the circuit saying that Trump deep down knows he’s an illegitimate president riddled with a guilty conscience or something. It’s pathetic (via Free Beacon):
CBS Sunday Morning‘s Jane Pauley asked why no Democratic candidates want to talk about Clinton, the party's previous nominee, while Trump likes to bring her up on Twitter and in speeches. Clinton said it's all a product of Trump's guilty conscience about 2016.
"I know that he knows that this wasn't on the level. I don't know we'll ever know everything that happened, but clearly we know a lot and are learning more every day, and history will probably sort it all out," she said. "So of course he's obsessed with me. And I believe that it's a guilty conscience, in so much as he has a conscience."
Clinton took "responsibility" for her defeat but argued it was the product of unpredictable forces.
"I believe he knows he's an illegitimate president. He knows. He knows that there were a bunch of different reasons why the election turned out the way it did. And I take responsibility for those parts of it that I should, but … it's like applying for a job and getting 66 million letters of recommendation and losing to a corrupt human tornado," she said.
Yeah, so while we all recover from throwing up in our mouths, let’s circle back to Bannon. He thinks it’s possible that Hillary could mount a third campaign (via Vanity Fair):
Donald Trump’s exorcized White House adviser resurfaced Monday evening on Fox Business with the bold claim that “crooked” Hillary Clinton is attempting to shoulder her way back into the political arena. “She is running. She’s just trying to decide how to fit her way in,” he told Fox Business Monday evening, predicting that she could take over the centrist lane from Joe Biden.
Clinton, of course, has firmly denied any interest in the 2020 race. Her current press tour is to promote a book she cowrote with her daughter, Chelsea, that comes out this month. To Bannon, though, Clinton’s press junket is a sure sign she’s jockeying for position ahead of the presidential primary. “Hillary Clinton is doing a whole thing,” he said. “A meeting this week for a book…she said [Trump is] an illegal president, illegitimate president…he’s a clear and present danger.”
Yeah, that book tour may be a coincidence or it could be a great way to test the waters for a 2020 bid. Frankly, I think Clinton is telling the truth that she won’t run. Her age and her baggage haven't gone away, the base does not adore her, and it’s hard to run a national campaign. That doesn’t mean she won’t be able to raise cash, get a crack team of operatives to work for her, and have the campaign infrastructure established in rapid speed. Yes, she has the resources and the following in those sectors, but two-time loser still rings loudly in the ears of Democrats. And to lose to Trump in such a fashion is a gnawing fact that undercuts Hillary; Trump now has a booming economy at his back as well. For many Democrats, they may still respect and like her for her standing in the party, but the ‘turn the page’ sentiment is more intense. The Clinton era is over.
At the same time, Joe Biden is looking rather shaky, Warren could push away deep-pocket Democratic donors with her agenda and she faces disaster with her health care proposal and whether it will increase taxes for middle class Americans; Warren was run away from such question, which tells you all you need to know. It most certainly will, which isn't the best pitch at a time when the economy is strongly chugging along. And Bernie Sanders, her old 2016 foe, had to have heart surgery due to chest pains and has canceled future political events. She looks like a fresh face, no? No not really—and Democrats would be idiots to entertain Hillary 3.0, but with the top of the tier being a fake Indian who can’t answer questions about health care, a crusty socialist with health issues, and a former VP that forgets what state he’s in, among other things (Hunter Biden *cough*). Is it insane to suggest that she could be a late entry? It would be annoying to see her again, but easy pickings for Trump and the GOP.
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