You can always count on Hillary

​ You’d think Democrats would have enough to handle right now, seemingly unable to narrow its field of challengers below a baker’s dozen, an impeachment inquiry fraught with the danger of solidifying a Trump advantage, and a philosophical dilemma of just how far left it is willing to go.

Enter Hillary Clinton: “Hold my beer.”

The 2016 contender used an appearance on the Campaign HQ podcast to criticize Jill Stein as a Russian asset for her third party run in 2016 and that Democrat Tulsi Gabbard was being groomed for a similar role in 2020.

Her comments serve to remind us all of the shortcomings that led her to a career as a presidential also-ran — the lack of a filter for what comes out of her mouth an inability to fix blame where it truly lies for the Trump presidency.

Hillary Clinton has never proven her ability to win a nationwide election. In 2008, she lost to an inexperienced community organizer first-term senator. Even with a stacked deck, in 2016, she had difficulty edging out a self-avowed socialist. She then went on to lose the general to a combustible political neophyte.

Always, there is an excuse. Race in 2008. Gender. The electoral college. Third party candidacies.

Never once has she taken a good, hard look in the mirror to see where that blame rests.

Comments like “basket of deplorables” and boasting about putting a lot of coal miners out of work — that is how you lose votes. When Clinton campaigned, she spoke and acted as if her election was ordained. No matter what your beliefs, you don’t diss a swathe of potential blue collar votes like that. It’s political arrogance.

But then, Hillary Clinton has always exhibited an air of “I know best,” and if you aren’t on board with that, you are my enemy. Disagreement is not allowed. What Hillary decides is what’s best for the nation.

People didn’t vote for Jill Stein, or Gary Johnson, for that matter, because they were trolled by Russian disinformation. It is because they did not buy what the “major” parties were selling. It was that arrogance. It was that dismissal of a “big tent.” Clinton’s, and quite frankly the Democratic Party’s inability to see that in 2020 will be their undoing again.

Think about it objectively. President Trump has a strong base of support. They will go to the mattresses for him. He is still incredibly vulnerable, however. Outside that base are a large group of voters who question his foreign policy, his economic policy, and his domestic policy. They dislike how the man manages his life, and how he represents the nation.

But, he also benefits from a large group of voters who will hold their noses and vote for him, or stay out of the process completely, despite misgivings, because they find the leftist philosophy coming out of the Democratic Party unpalatable.

As President Trump’s Republican Party wildly veers away from a generation of political thought, a large number of voters are suddenly in play. The Democrat’s answer is to careen wildly to the left — to battle to see who can out-Bernie Bernie. The result will likely turn the 2020 general into an election about who can bring out the bigger base, and leaving a great many voters disenfranchised.

With the duopoly firmly entrenched in the process, serving its mutual best interest of self-preservation through control over ballot access and the debate stage, there is little interest in appealing to rationality.

Which brings us back to Clinton, and more importantly, what’s the point? It must be calculated. Appearing now and making those comments on a national platform, she knows she will be quoted. Media on the left and right will trip over themselves to run with a Hillary quote.

Two possibilities emerge. She’s throwing her weight behind one of the frontrunners, and likely not Joe or Bernie due to past history, so Elizabeth Warren. Gabbard was shedding a light of reality on Warren dogma in the last debate, so it makes sense. Thus, the abhorrent claim Gabbard, a veteran, mind you, who arguably has given more to the nation than Hillary Clinton, as a tool of Russian disinformation.

But there is also the fact the only one Hillary Clinton has ever shown much care about is Hillary Clinton. Why hitch yourself to the Warren Wagon when you can throw the whole bunch of them under the bus? Why start now making the politically-expedient choice now? It’s an interesting question to consider.

Regardless, Clinton’s emergence will be of little benefit for those who wish to unseat Trump, in fact, it will likely have the opposite effect. Hillary Clinton reminds us just because you have the right to speak doesn’t necessarily imply you should use it. Think of it as the Lebron James rule. Will what you say advance your goal, or hinder it?

When all is said and done, a great many hoping to see the backside of the Trump presidency may find themselves wishing Hillary Clinton stayed out in the cold.

Originally published at http://www.cdsix.com.