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Hillary Clinton still doesn’t get it Loneliness can't explain away her political failures

Smiling and waving like it's 1997. (Theo Wargo/WireImage)

Smiling and waving like it's 1997. (Theo Wargo/WireImage)


August 15, 2023   5 mins

Let’s indulge in some nostalgia for a moment. It’s Nineties America and “political apathy” is the complaint on every politician’s lips. The end of the Soviet Union is a recent memory and Western democracy has emerged triumphant, though the average voter is annoyed and bored with the whole charade. Academics write articles about the lack of vibrant public debate. The Times Mirror, a major newspaper publisher, releases a study referring to America’s “Age of Indifference”.

These were the good old days, especially if you were Hillary Clinton. By 1997, the First Lady of the United States had published It Takes a Village — “a textbook for caring” for America’s children — and followed it up with a conference on “What New Research on the Brain Tells Us About Our Youngest Children”, at which only one neuroscientist spoke and didn’t say anything new. There, she gushed about how experiences during the first three years “can determine whether children will grow up to be peaceful or violent citizens”. Rob Reiner, who had devised a recent national public education campaign (also not a neuroscientist), claimed that what we know about brain development during the first three years of life was “the key to problem-solving at every level of society”.

If only that were the case; if only healing America’s broken electorate had simply been a matter of socially engineering a new one. Instead, in the three decades since, the country’s atomisation continued to fester, compelling Clinton to once again return to the frontline. Eight years (and another book) since Trump ruined her presidential party, this time her weapon of choice is a 3,500-word essay for The Atlantic, in which she laments the rise of “loneliness” and its manipulation “by dark forces that are threatening American democracy”.

Once again showing a stubborn penchant for reducing social problems to biology, Clinton believes that an “epidemic” of “loneliness and isolation” not only explains the rise of the “alt-Right”, but is also infecting American society to its core, threatening citizens’ “personal health and also the health of our democracy”. Turning her “basket of deplorables” into a “basket of the debilitated”, she confirms that America’s political elite is inclined to view the politically dispossessed in two ways: risky or at-risk; swarming or sick; dangerous or disordered.

What this forgets, though, is that treating voters as vulnerable, malign loners rather than disenfranchised political agents is part of the problem. Just as in the Nineties, Clinton seems incapable of reckoning with people as conscious actors. For her, problems are not solved by negotiating with the affected, but by prescribing expensive social programmes that seek to alter their behaviour. Yet being treated as passive recipients of “behaviour change programmes” will backfire unless the political class that Clinton represents addresses the political vacuum once filled by representation and contestation.

No one needs to be reminded of Clinton’s “deplorables” comment, or her warning about the risks posed by “low-information voters”. But few seem to recall the brief stunned moment following Trump’s election win when political pundits and social-media experts were bursting with performative self-reflection (though admittedly not a little emotional incontinence). Maybe we needed to reflect; maybe we needed to listen a little more to the “left behind”. It didn’t take long for soul-searching to be replaced by waves of condemnation towards those “ignorant” voters who were duped by Facebook, Google and Vladimir Putin into allowing the “darkest impulses” of the human psyche out into the light of day.

Like the flick of a switch, this new narrative became “the truth” about 2016. No, no — it was nothing we did. People had been swindled out of doing what was good for them, lured into the deep, frog-dwelling recesses of the internet. It’s not that we failed — it’s that the forces of evil were too powerful. Defeating them became an all-consuming passion. Suppress free speech. Curtail freedoms. All so that the greater good can triumph.

In this narrative, the disenfranchised became both victim and villain: they are duped and they are malign. Neither, however, places any importance on political agency. Clinton’s latest reflection on “loneliness” is only the latest manifestation of this. As she describes, before these voters became dangerous, they were just vulnerable young men, the offspring of broken families in broken communities: “There have always been angry young men alienated from mainstream society and susceptible to the appeal of demagogues and hate-mongers,” she writes. “But modern technology has taken the danger to another level.” And, crucially, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Throwing herself behind the lofty political aim of finding the electorate (adequately vetted) friends, she echoes other campaigners who liken loneliness to obesity and “smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day”. She takes this medicalisation of the problem further, comparing it with the public-health threat presented by HIV/AIDS, arguing that it is time to “sound the alarm”. The rationale here is straightforward: by medicalising loneliness, it can be safely transformed into something much more isolable and soluble than something such as real democratic representation. Indeed, it medicalises democracy as a whole, diagnosing it as infirm and in need of a cure.

Here, the political enemy becomes sick, not an object of hatred but of empathy. “Researchers also say that loneliness can generate anger, resentment, and even paranoia,” she writes. “It diminishes civic engagement and social cohesion, and increases political polarisation and animosity.” She cites the US surgeon general to argue that unless this crisis is addressed, “we will continue to splinter and divide until we can no longer stand as a community or a country” — the implication being that voters didn’t distrust Clinton or her ilk; they were just “lonely”.

To this effect, she complains of Steve Bannon’s conspiracy to turn isolated “rootless white males” of the online gaming world into the “shock troops of the alt-right”. But is transforming them into patients-in-waiting and seeking to quarantine their discontents really any better? For Clinton, there is no other choice: “Like many others, I was too slow to see the impact this strategy could have. Now the surgeon general is telling us that social disconnection is not just a problem at the margins
 but is in fact an epidemic sweeping the country.” The language of “epidemic” leaves readers with no doubt that this is not a political but medical problem.

What is the treatment? She suggests that governments bring opportunities back to hard-hit areas, stem the need to leave communities to find work, and put the family first — none of which would be disagreeable if it weren’t an excuse for more intervention with the aim of creating the right sorts of citizens. Just as her demonisation of “deplorables” makes her promises to support the same voters ring hollow, treating people as objects of behaviour management techniques is hardly a winning formulation. Across Europe and around the world, people are voting less for the ascendent populists than against the condescending political mainstream that Clinton has come to represent. Every insurgent political movement of the past decade shares one thing in common: its members want to be subjects instead of objects.

Still, there is a kernel of truth here. A growing number of voters in America, and the West more broadly, feel alienated. Today’s society is characterised by ongoing individuation and social fragmentation and a loss of collective projects beyond the self. Union membership has collapsed and what is left of them is just as sceptical of political agency, often expressed through the infantilising rhetoric of health and safety.

Yet there clearly remains something distinctly sanitising about grouping problems together under the umbrella of health. This is not a phenomenon that can be solved by completing a checklist and finding the appropriate intervention. People are politically dispossessed: more important than the feelings that result from alienation is the disenchantment, political or otherwise, that follows.

In other words, loneliness isn’t the problem, but disenfranchisement. The political sphere has been emptied of all meaning and mainstream politicians are happy to keep it that way, perhaps even longing for the comfortable, stabilising political apathy of the Nineties. For a time when “getting people excited about politics” didn’t involve Steve Bannon, but a “rock the vote” talk at a local high school; when a policy can be marketed with a PowerPoint presentation and people are passive recipients of your charitable interventions.

But they won’t get that. There is no going back. Political frustration will inevitably reappear elsewhere — in conspiracies and populist figures who promise to tell it like it is. Trump had his moment, and most will not be blind to his embarrassing inability to accept a backslide from his presidency. Yet until those in power reckon with the need to see people eye to eye, Trump-like figures and movements will replace him. Trump didn’t cause the circumstances that made him and, at least if Clinton is listened to, those circumstances won’t be changing soon.


Ashley Frawleyis a sociologist, a columnist at Compact and COO of Sublation Media.

AshleyAFrawley

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Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
1 year ago

Some mornings, when I open my eyes into the blank gray slate of the early light, it’s really hard to get out of bed, to rise and, in some way, shine, to engage with the rest of the world. I think of all our problems, and how insurmountable they seem, and I just want to roll over and go back to sleep.
Then I remind myself that I live in a world where Hillary Clinton will never be president. Thus fortified, I can face the day.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago

What a sad little existence you lead….
Go back to sleep, sport, you won’t be missed.

Last edited 1 year ago by Champagne Socialist
Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Don’t know irony when we see it, eh sport?

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Someone doesn’t know what irony is, eh laddie?!?!

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Neither do you.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Totally over his head.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I like how stupid you guys are

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

They do such a great job of representing their side.

Stewart Cazier
Stewart Cazier
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Vidal and Buckley would have been jealous of this rapier sharp exchange between political opponents at their rhetorical heights.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Stewart Cazier

Fair enough but let’s not forget that Vidal called Buckley a crypto-Nazi and Buckley referred to Vidal as ‘you fag’.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Stewart Cazier

Fair enough but let’s not forget that Vidal called Buckley a crypto-Nazi and Buckley referred to Vidal as ‘you fag’.

Stewart Cazier
Stewart Cazier
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Vidal and Buckley would have been jealous of this rapier sharp exchange between political opponents at their rhetorical heights.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

They do such a great job of representing their side.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I like how stupid you guys are

Nona Yubiz
Nona Yubiz
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Irony is impossible nowadays. As is satire. Today’s reality would make even Jonathan Swift concede defeat, were he to attempt to write something scathingly shocking to jolt people awake.

Stewart Cazier
Stewart Cazier
1 year ago
Reply to  Nona Yubiz

Although I think that Swift would have recognised his confederacy of dunces readily enough.

Stewart Cazier
Stewart Cazier
1 year ago
Reply to  Nona Yubiz

Although I think that Swift would have recognised his confederacy of dunces readily enough.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Someone doesn’t know what irony is, eh laddie?!?!

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Neither do you.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Totally over his head.

Nona Yubiz
Nona Yubiz
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Irony is impossible nowadays. As is satire. Today’s reality would make even Jonathan Swift concede defeat, were he to attempt to write something scathingly shocking to jolt people awake.

Stephanie Surface
Stephanie Surface
1 year ago

Have another glass of champagne on socialism and relax.

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
1 year ago

A Hillary fanboi, who’d have guessed

Ray Zacek
Ray Zacek
1 year ago

What a sad little existence YOU lead
.
Go back to sleep, chittering cicada, you won’t be missed …

R Kays
R Kays
1 year ago

I’m thinking Hillary has you in mind. Sport.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Don’t know irony when we see it, eh sport?

Stephanie Surface
Stephanie Surface
1 year ago

Have another glass of champagne on socialism and relax.

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
1 year ago

A Hillary fanboi, who’d have guessed

Ray Zacek
Ray Zacek
1 year ago

What a sad little existence YOU lead
.
Go back to sleep, chittering cicada, you won’t be missed …

R Kays
R Kays
1 year ago

I’m thinking Hillary has you in mind. Sport.

Michael Davis
Michael Davis
1 year ago

No but Jo Biden can ( and is)

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 year ago
Reply to  Michael Davis

Hillary proposed a no-fly zone to shoot Russian planes down over Syria and start nuclear World War III. To that extent, key actors of the American federal state prevented her from becoming POTUS.
Presumably this time around, the same administrative actors trust Biden’s State Department – the old Ukraine nationalist neocons – to rein back on the proxy war to prevent a Russian nuclear retaliation.

Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
1 year ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Politicians’ every nuance get pored over by a media keen to explore the personality of a political heavyweight. Interestingly in Hilary’s case I don’t recall a single media pundit dare suggest that Syria/no-fly-zones and risking WW3 would be a turn-off for the voters.
Just one short step from that to going full Kenny Everett and Hilary shouting “Let’s Bomb Russia!”.

Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
1 year ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Politicians’ every nuance get pored over by a media keen to explore the personality of a political heavyweight. Interestingly in Hilary’s case I don’t recall a single media pundit dare suggest that Syria/no-fly-zones and risking WW3 would be a turn-off for the voters.
Just one short step from that to going full Kenny Everett and Hilary shouting “Let’s Bomb Russia!”.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 year ago
Reply to  Michael Davis

Hillary proposed a no-fly zone to shoot Russian planes down over Syria and start nuclear World War III. To that extent, key actors of the American federal state prevented her from becoming POTUS.
Presumably this time around, the same administrative actors trust Biden’s State Department – the old Ukraine nationalist neocons – to rein back on the proxy war to prevent a Russian nuclear retaliation.

AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

Never mind. In Hillary’s brave new world all the deplorables will have their daily ration of soma to look forward to.

Ray Zacek
Ray Zacek
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Or Victory Gin, depending on their status.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

I think the plan is no longer to incarcerate us – but to forcibly sedate us. Mental health camps for the recalcitrant.

Ray Zacek
Ray Zacek
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Or Victory Gin, depending on their status.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

I think the plan is no longer to incarcerate us – but to forcibly sedate us. Mental health camps for the recalcitrant.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

I love how this response has over 200 upvotes already. Nothing rouses the ire of the people like Hillary, the Marie Antoinette of our modern age. The Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves for what happened in 2016. They could have picked anybody else and that person would have beaten Trump, and rather than reflect on why the standard bearer of their condescending social engineering template couldn’t beat a womanizing, foul mouthed, reality TV con-artist, they dumped the blame on Russia, sexism, and the untimely FBI probe into Hillary’s laptops.

Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Marie Antoinette would never have occured to me. Livia, perhaps.

Peter G
Peter G
1 year ago

Perfect!

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
1 year ago

Hillary Clinton is Richard Nixon without the charm.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

I had a good chuckle at that. Hillary has all the charm and grace of blind and deaf whale in the middle of the desert.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Thank you for the laugh, I needed it.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

It is undeniable that she has put on weight.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

Her weight varies depending on the state of her relationship with her best friend Chardonnay.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

Her weight varies depending on the state of her relationship with her best friend Chardonnay.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Thank you for the laugh, I needed it.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

It is undeniable that she has put on weight.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

I had a good chuckle at that. Hillary has all the charm and grace of blind and deaf whale in the middle of the desert.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

You’re probably right. I was comparing the amount of hatred they generated, but comparing the two probably does the real Marie Antoinette a great disservice. After all, the real Marie was excoriated mostly for a single comment that might have been a result of her poor command of the French language and for just being another pompous noblewoman. Hillary, on the other hand, has displayed a consistently condescending attitude through her behavior, policies, and written several books filled with more and worse paternalistic condescension than Marie likely could conceive.

Peter G
Peter G
1 year ago

Perfect!

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
1 year ago

Hillary Clinton is Richard Nixon without the charm.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

You’re probably right. I was comparing the amount of hatred they generated, but comparing the two probably does the real Marie Antoinette a great disservice. After all, the real Marie was excoriated mostly for a single comment that might have been a result of her poor command of the French language and for just being another pompous noblewoman. Hillary, on the other hand, has displayed a consistently condescending attitude through her behavior, policies, and written several books filled with more and worse paternalistic condescension than Marie likely could conceive.

Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

If we’re going to reach for modern cultural comparisons, then this article positions Hilary as Nurse Ratched and the deplorables Randle McMurphy.
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”. Seems Hilary would have all wrongthinkers lobotomised.

Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Marie Antoinette would never have occured to me. Livia, perhaps.

Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

If we’re going to reach for modern cultural comparisons, then this article positions Hilary as Nurse Ratched and the deplorables Randle McMurphy.
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”. Seems Hilary would have all wrongthinkers lobotomised.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago

The best bit of television I’ve seen in the last 20 years was CBC on election night. They had lined up the usual suspects to triumph a Clinton victory. Instead they had to stumble through hours of “how can this be happening”.
It was golden. I have asked CBC a couple of times to make it available for streaming, but they dont seem to want to.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago
Reply to  Bret Larson

Wasn’t that night stunning!?! It was a will-she or won’t-she give a conciliation speech
the crying aides
the stunned looks of hangers-on
the fancy smash-the-glass-ceiling-set
it was all so presumptuous, arrogant
.and incredibly yummy. And equally stunning is how she set the Deep State after Trump and took the country through 3 years and $50 million worth of inquiry – blaming the Russians! (Guess that red reset button didn’t work?)
Trump was and is correct: Lock Her Up.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Carron

Id forgotten about speechgate, thanks for the reminder:)

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Carron

Id forgotten about speechgate, thanks for the reminder:)

Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor
1 year ago
Reply to  Bret Larson

The Brexit referendum result on the BBC takes the honours for me, but I get where you’re coming from.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Taylor

I agree. Brexit was wonderful. Even better then the Hillary show.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Taylor

I agree. Brexit was wonderful. Even better then the Hillary show.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago
Reply to  Bret Larson

Wasn’t that night stunning!?! It was a will-she or won’t-she give a conciliation speech
the crying aides
the stunned looks of hangers-on
the fancy smash-the-glass-ceiling-set
it was all so presumptuous, arrogant
.and incredibly yummy. And equally stunning is how she set the Deep State after Trump and took the country through 3 years and $50 million worth of inquiry – blaming the Russians! (Guess that red reset button didn’t work?)
Trump was and is correct: Lock Her Up.

Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor
1 year ago
Reply to  Bret Larson

The Brexit referendum result on the BBC takes the honours for me, but I get where you’re coming from.

R E P
R E P
1 year ago

You can still get odds on her…

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago

What a sad little existence you lead….
Go back to sleep, sport, you won’t be missed.

Last edited 1 year ago by Champagne Socialist
Michael Davis
Michael Davis
1 year ago

No but Jo Biden can ( and is)

AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

Never mind. In Hillary’s brave new world all the deplorables will have their daily ration of soma to look forward to.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

I love how this response has over 200 upvotes already. Nothing rouses the ire of the people like Hillary, the Marie Antoinette of our modern age. The Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves for what happened in 2016. They could have picked anybody else and that person would have beaten Trump, and rather than reflect on why the standard bearer of their condescending social engineering template couldn’t beat a womanizing, foul mouthed, reality TV con-artist, they dumped the blame on Russia, sexism, and the untimely FBI probe into Hillary’s laptops.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago

The best bit of television I’ve seen in the last 20 years was CBC on election night. They had lined up the usual suspects to triumph a Clinton victory. Instead they had to stumble through hours of “how can this be happening”.
It was golden. I have asked CBC a couple of times to make it available for streaming, but they dont seem to want to.

R E P
R E P
1 year ago

You can still get odds on her…

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
1 year ago

Some mornings, when I open my eyes into the blank gray slate of the early light, it’s really hard to get out of bed, to rise and, in some way, shine, to engage with the rest of the world. I think of all our problems, and how insurmountable they seem, and I just want to roll over and go back to sleep.
Then I remind myself that I live in a world where Hillary Clinton will never be president. Thus fortified, I can face the day.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Clinton epitomizes both the insufferably condescending and authoritarian attitude of The People Who Know What Is Best For You and their staggeringly absolute lack of self-awareness. That anybody would give a platform to this two time loser is sad, almost as sad as her reading what would have been her 2016 victory speech in December 2021. Give us a real woman like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, not this corrupt, lying, soulless hack.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Pity politics is such a dirty business, it is highly unlikely that someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali will have the stomach to run for office – not until after some apocalyptic event anyway, like a cyber-tsunami.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Katalin Kish

Actually, she was a member of the Dutch parliament until being forced to resign over questions over her citizenship. Though I was thinking of her more in terms of a woman who has been brave, smart and strong and who unfortunately has had to pay a steep price for it.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Katalin Kish

Actually, she was a member of the Dutch parliament until being forced to resign over questions over her citizenship. Though I was thinking of her more in terms of a woman who has been brave, smart and strong and who unfortunately has had to pay a steep price for it.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Pity politics is such a dirty business, it is highly unlikely that someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali will have the stomach to run for office – not until after some apocalyptic event anyway, like a cyber-tsunami.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Clinton epitomizes both the insufferably condescending and authoritarian attitude of The People Who Know What Is Best For You and their staggeringly absolute lack of self-awareness. That anybody would give a platform to this two time loser is sad, almost as sad as her reading what would have been her 2016 victory speech in December 2021. Give us a real woman like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, not this corrupt, lying, soulless hack.

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago

Dreadful, dreadful person. Should anybody be inclined to accuse me of misogyny on the basis of that comment, let me say that her husband is almost certainly worse (although, as Gore Vidal waspishly observed of US politics, “one does not bring a measuring rod to Lilliput”.) For further details, see Christopher Hitchens’s small but entertaining book “Nobody Left To Lie To”.

Last edited 1 year ago by RM Parker
Samir Iker
Samir Iker
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

The fact that one might be accused of misogyny to point out what an awful person she was, is a huge indictment of the women’s right industry.

She, along with Victoria Nuland, were one of the key proponents of the aggressive, militaristic foreign strategy followed by the US. And yes, that group also includes men, I should add hastily before anyone accuses me of misogyny.

I know the men who died in Libya, Iraq, or the cartel wars caused by the Colombia policy, don’t matter to those nobly fighting against the horrible patriarchy. But what about thr women, who died, got trafficked, lost their husbands and children. Do they count, for those who are so bothered by “misogyny.”

Last edited 1 year ago by Samir Iker
D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

But as Hillary tells us, “Women have always been the primary victims of war, they lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat”

Andrew Dalton
Andrew Dalton
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

That’s my favourite Clinton quote – even more than the basket of deplorables one. It so succinctly sums up her lack of self-awareness.

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Andrew Dalton

A rock lacks self-awareness. An insect almost as much.
Clinton is far worse than that. She is a narcissistic sociopath who preys on all around her, which as a national politician in the US means much of the world.

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Andrew Dalton

A rock lacks self-awareness. An insect almost as much.
Clinton is far worse than that. She is a narcissistic sociopath who preys on all around her, which as a national politician in the US means much of the world.

Paul Devlin
Paul Devlin
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Classic Clinton!

Michael Cavanaugh
Michael Cavanaugh
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Right up there with the ACLU declaring: “Abortion bans disproportionately harm: . . . the LGBTQ community”

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

I remember the days when the ACLU could actually be relied upon to actually defend civil liberties, like free speech. They would defend civil rights activists’ right to speak and disseminate their views but also defend the KKK’s right to do the same. They were an organization that often found themselves defending unpopular views and even less popular individuals. Some loved them, some hated them, but they were an organization that served an important purpose as a watchdog against censorship and ideological discrimination both public and private. Sadly, they have devolved into just another partisan activist group centered around victimization.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

I remember the days when the ACLU could actually be relied upon to actually defend civil liberties, like free speech. They would defend civil rights activists’ right to speak and disseminate their views but also defend the KKK’s right to do the same. They were an organization that often found themselves defending unpopular views and even less popular individuals. Some loved them, some hated them, but they were an organization that served an important purpose as a watchdog against censorship and ideological discrimination both public and private. Sadly, they have devolved into just another partisan activist group centered around victimization.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve Jolly
Andrew Dalton
Andrew Dalton
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

That’s my favourite Clinton quote – even more than the basket of deplorables one. It so succinctly sums up her lack of self-awareness.

Paul Devlin
Paul Devlin
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Classic Clinton!

Michael Cavanaugh
Michael Cavanaugh
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Right up there with the ACLU declaring: “Abortion bans disproportionately harm: . . . the LGBTQ community”

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

Not that I wish to stand up for Hillary but didn’t she stand up for Bill when he was accused of sexual impropriety and publicly rubbish his accusers
Am I correct that she failed the NY bar and that is how she ended up in Arkansas?

Last edited 1 year ago by Ethniciodo Rodenydo
David Harris
David Harris
1 year ago

Political expediency to keep the Billary bandwagon going…

Grace Goodman
Grace Goodman
1 year ago

Yes. She failed the Bar in DC and then passed it in Arkansas.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Grace Goodman

After which she successfully defended a dirt bag who raped a 12 year girl.

L Walker
L Walker
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

And bragged about it.

L Walker
L Walker
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

And bragged about it.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Grace Goodman

After which she successfully defended a dirt bag who raped a 12 year girl.

Peter G
Peter G
1 year ago

Stand up for Bill against his accusers? You mean protecting Bill, who used his position of power as governor and president to take advantage of countless women?

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter G

A lot of people around the Clintons died one way or another including Jeffrey Epstein, who didn’t commit suicide in that cell while the guards were asleep and the CCTV cameras weren’t working. A small bone in his neck was broken, a mark of strangulation but not death by hanging.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter G

A lot of people around the Clintons died one way or another including Jeffrey Epstein, who didn’t commit suicide in that cell while the guards were asleep and the CCTV cameras weren’t working. A small bone in his neck was broken, a mark of strangulation but not death by hanging.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago

She failed the Washington DC exam for sure and didn’t retake it.

David Harris
David Harris
1 year ago

Political expediency to keep the Billary bandwagon going…

Grace Goodman
Grace Goodman
1 year ago

Yes. She failed the Bar in DC and then passed it in Arkansas.

Peter G
Peter G
1 year ago

Stand up for Bill against his accusers? You mean protecting Bill, who used his position of power as governor and president to take advantage of countless women?

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago

She failed the Washington DC exam for sure and didn’t retake it.

Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

Excellent comment!

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

But as Hillary tells us, “Women have always been the primary victims of war, they lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat”

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

Not that I wish to stand up for Hillary but didn’t she stand up for Bill when he was accused of sexual impropriety and publicly rubbish his accusers
Am I correct that she failed the NY bar and that is how she ended up in Arkansas?

Last edited 1 year ago by Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Katalin Kish
Katalin Kish
1 year ago
Reply to  Samir Iker

Excellent comment!

Nona Yubiz
Nona Yubiz
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

Good God, Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens? Please. Talk about ‘dreadful’ people.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

The fact that one might be accused of misogyny to point out what an awful person she was, is a huge indictment of the women’s right industry.

She, along with Victoria Nuland, were one of the key proponents of the aggressive, militaristic foreign strategy followed by the US. And yes, that group also includes men, I should add hastily before anyone accuses me of misogyny.

I know the men who died in Libya, Iraq, or the cartel wars caused by the Colombia policy, don’t matter to those nobly fighting against the horrible patriarchy. But what about thr women, who died, got trafficked, lost their husbands and children. Do they count, for those who are so bothered by “misogyny.”

Last edited 1 year ago by Samir Iker
Nona Yubiz
Nona Yubiz
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

Good God, Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens? Please. Talk about ‘dreadful’ people.

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago

Dreadful, dreadful person. Should anybody be inclined to accuse me of misogyny on the basis of that comment, let me say that her husband is almost certainly worse (although, as Gore Vidal waspishly observed of US politics, “one does not bring a measuring rod to Lilliput”.) For further details, see Christopher Hitchens’s small but entertaining book “Nobody Left To Lie To”.

Last edited 1 year ago by RM Parker
Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 year ago

Amazing that anyone can be so blinkered. For thirty years America has been living through the largest upward transfer of wealth in its history – and she thinks the pauperised victims of her husband’s policies are unhappy because they’re lonely?!?

I bet she thinks that the traumatized victims of her corrupt policies in Libya and elsewhere would be fine if someone would only give them a hug.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

And don’t forget Haiti. Bill and Hillary pocketed millions from that earthquake disaster in the guise of helping to rebuild the shattered country.

philip kern
philip kern
1 year ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

I thought it was her brother who got all the money in that fiasco.

philip kern
philip kern
1 year ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

I thought it was her brother who got all the money in that fiasco.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

And don’t forget Haiti. Bill and Hillary pocketed millions from that earthquake disaster in the guise of helping to rebuild the shattered country.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 year ago

Amazing that anyone can be so blinkered. For thirty years America has been living through the largest upward transfer of wealth in its history – and she thinks the pauperised victims of her husband’s policies are unhappy because they’re lonely?!?

I bet she thinks that the traumatized victims of her corrupt policies in Libya and elsewhere would be fine if someone would only give them a hug.

AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

I read the opinion piece in The Atlantic. She states that  The “vast right-wing conspiracy” has been of compelling interest to me for many years.” – yet typically the family and community values she wants to see restored are the conservative values she deplores.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

She claimed the “vast right-wing conspiracy” was responsible for creating the “myth” about Monica Lewinsky – and then there was the blue dress DNA sample. Did she become more circumspect? Of course not. She is utterly soulless.
This odious creature hired a has-been spook to conjure up the thoroughly bogus Steele “dossier” used by others of her ilk to plague Donald Trump’s entire presidency. Her loss in 2016 so shocked the Swamp that they made certain to rig the election in 2020 so they could install a crooked, pliable, senile pervert who would do as he is told.
And, typical of her vile species, she claims crisis status for nearly everything, and the solution is government. The corporate media that colludes with Washington sic themselves on anyone not mutely nodding their heads.
I won’t commit to words what I wish for these . . . people.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
1 year ago

Salem perhaps?

0 0
0 0
1 year ago

Soulless? No, just a classic bona fide sociopath! The woman that was the brains behind Bill – she was the only wife to ever have an office in the West Wing and ran everything! I actually beleive he was responsible for sabotaging her campaigns – eventually having more power – relegating him to obscurity!

Narcissa Smith-Harris
Narcissa Smith-Harris
1 year ago

People keep saying the steele dossier is bogus. If that is true why is Reality Winner in jail?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
1 year ago

Salem perhaps?

0 0
0 0
1 year ago

Soulless? No, just a classic bona fide sociopath! The woman that was the brains behind Bill – she was the only wife to ever have an office in the West Wing and ran everything! I actually beleive he was responsible for sabotaging her campaigns – eventually having more power – relegating him to obscurity!

Narcissa Smith-Harris
Narcissa Smith-Harris
1 year ago

People keep saying the steele dossier is bogus. If that is true why is Reality Winner in jail?

Carmel Shortall
Carmel Shortall
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

“ The “vast right-wing conspiracy”

Now that IS a conspiracy THEORY!

Thomas Wagner
Thomas Wagner
1 year ago

Oh, it’s real. It consists of everyone who doesn’t like Hillary. That’s why it’s vast.

Thomas Wagner
Thomas Wagner
1 year ago

Oh, it’s real. It consists of everyone who doesn’t like Hillary. That’s why it’s vast.

Catherine Conroy
Catherine Conroy
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Yet, only right-wingers are conspiracy theorists.

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

Assuming this isn’t sarcasm, you clearly have never been in a Marxist bookshop

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  R Wright

Or any other.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  R Wright

Or any other.

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

Assuming this isn’t sarcasm, you clearly have never been in a Marxist bookshop

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

You can draw a direct line from the Clintons to the Obama administration, through Joe’s first term and to drag queens reading and cavorting obscenely before young children at libraries.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

She claimed the “vast right-wing conspiracy” was responsible for creating the “myth” about Monica Lewinsky – and then there was the blue dress DNA sample. Did she become more circumspect? Of course not. She is utterly soulless.
This odious creature hired a has-been spook to conjure up the thoroughly bogus Steele “dossier” used by others of her ilk to plague Donald Trump’s entire presidency. Her loss in 2016 so shocked the Swamp that they made certain to rig the election in 2020 so they could install a crooked, pliable, senile pervert who would do as he is told.
And, typical of her vile species, she claims crisis status for nearly everything, and the solution is government. The corporate media that colludes with Washington sic themselves on anyone not mutely nodding their heads.
I won’t commit to words what I wish for these . . . people.

Carmel Shortall
Carmel Shortall
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

“ The “vast right-wing conspiracy”

Now that IS a conspiracy THEORY!

Catherine Conroy
Catherine Conroy
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

Yet, only right-wingers are conspiracy theorists.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

You can draw a direct line from the Clintons to the Obama administration, through Joe’s first term and to drag queens reading and cavorting obscenely before young children at libraries.

AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

I read the opinion piece in The Atlantic. She states that  The “vast right-wing conspiracy” has been of compelling interest to me for many years.” – yet typically the family and community values she wants to see restored are the conservative values she deplores.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
1 year ago

When Hillary embarked on her pre-emptive Triumph, with her personal slaves drawn from the smuggest sewers of the Entitled Class drooling in her ear “Remember you are a Shoe-in,” it needed someone to warn her of the omen that Triumph contains Trump, but she was too full of herself to spot the wood for the woodchips of her presidential prospects.

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

“shoo-in” mate

0 0
0 0
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

The Clinton’s do nothing without motive – clearly there’s an “ulterior” motive in play here. The sudden “accidental” death of Obama’s personal chef (coincidently) the subsequent exposure of his homosexual fantasies has the Clintons fingerprints all over it!
Lets not forget the money the Clinton Foundation hauled in during her “SOS” stunt with the guarantee being the next POTUS and the massive political debt she occurred which explains her behavior! Not only has she been reduced to irrelevant but imagine the magnitude of her burden of debt.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  0 0

I would love someone who understands these things to explain why the press is turning on Obama right now. Is it random or is it some Game of Thrones business.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

With very limited knowledge of the situation, I’d say it’s because he has the audacity to question the movement. Note that he doesn’t even criticize the goals of the establishment left, just their approach, yet perhaps even that is perhaps enough for them to declare him a heretic and excommunicate him

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

I’m waiting for our compromised and dishonest press to shake off the ideological imperatives now dominating it and look into Obama’s African birth and dodgy Hawaiian birth certificate.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Liberals are slow – it’s dawning on them that he was one of the worst Presidents ever.

L Walker
L Walker
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Carron

He’s got some unbeatable competition in Biden.

L Walker
L Walker
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Carron

He’s got some unbeatable competition in Biden.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

With very limited knowledge of the situation, I’d say it’s because he has the audacity to question the movement. Note that he doesn’t even criticize the goals of the establishment left, just their approach, yet perhaps even that is perhaps enough for them to declare him a heretic and excommunicate him

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

I’m waiting for our compromised and dishonest press to shake off the ideological imperatives now dominating it and look into Obama’s African birth and dodgy Hawaiian birth certificate.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Liberals are slow – it’s dawning on them that he was one of the worst Presidents ever.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  0 0

I would love someone who understands these things to explain why the press is turning on Obama right now. Is it random or is it some Game of Thrones business.

Frank McCusker
Frank McCusker
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

“shoo-in” mate

0 0
0 0
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

The Clinton’s do nothing without motive – clearly there’s an “ulterior” motive in play here. The sudden “accidental” death of Obama’s personal chef (coincidently) the subsequent exposure of his homosexual fantasies has the Clintons fingerprints all over it!
Lets not forget the money the Clinton Foundation hauled in during her “SOS” stunt with the guarantee being the next POTUS and the massive political debt she occurred which explains her behavior! Not only has she been reduced to irrelevant but imagine the magnitude of her burden of debt.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
1 year ago

When Hillary embarked on her pre-emptive Triumph, with her personal slaves drawn from the smuggest sewers of the Entitled Class drooling in her ear “Remember you are a Shoe-in,” it needed someone to warn her of the omen that Triumph contains Trump, but she was too full of herself to spot the wood for the woodchips of her presidential prospects.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 year ago

Hillary and her email scandal is the reason I woke up in respect of US politics. I was just a super busy person who identified as liberal and I guess would have voted Democrat if I lived in the US. How could a career politician, married to a former president not have known how to handle something as basic as her emails. Thanks Hills for the red pill.

Ray Zacek
Ray Zacek
1 year ago

She knew how to handle her email and was apprised of the security protocols; she simply chose to ignore any precautions.

Ray Zacek
Ray Zacek
1 year ago

She knew how to handle her email and was apprised of the security protocols; she simply chose to ignore any precautions.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 year ago

Hillary and her email scandal is the reason I woke up in respect of US politics. I was just a super busy person who identified as liberal and I guess would have voted Democrat if I lived in the US. How could a career politician, married to a former president not have known how to handle something as basic as her emails. Thanks Hills for the red pill.

Phil Mac
Phil Mac
1 year ago

Yeah, loneliness is terrible so when the next illness breaks out we must remember to prevent anyone from meeting anyone or having an education.
I confess I haven’t researched Mrs Clinton’s public utterances throughout the pandemic but I’m willing to put it out there that she heartily endorsed every controlling action, and more.
Appalling person. Her condescension knows no limits.

0 0
0 0
1 year ago
Reply to  Phil Mac

Loneliness is a terrible thing – where was her advocacy for the thousands of people who were forced to die alone in nursing homes and hospitals during covid?

0 0
0 0
1 year ago
Reply to  Phil Mac

Loneliness is a terrible thing – where was her advocacy for the thousands of people who were forced to die alone in nursing homes and hospitals during covid?

Phil Mac
Phil Mac
1 year ago

Yeah, loneliness is terrible so when the next illness breaks out we must remember to prevent anyone from meeting anyone or having an education.
I confess I haven’t researched Mrs Clinton’s public utterances throughout the pandemic but I’m willing to put it out there that she heartily endorsed every controlling action, and more.
Appalling person. Her condescension knows no limits.

Daniel Lee
Daniel Lee
1 year ago

“Comrade, you are unhappy with the Soviet state. It means you are unwell. We must help you with that. Step into the van, if you please. Yes, you must. No, you won’t need your luggage.”

Daniel Lee
Daniel Lee
1 year ago

“Comrade, you are unhappy with the Soviet state. It means you are unwell. We must help you with that. Step into the van, if you please. Yes, you must. No, you won’t need your luggage.”

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

Bullseye. Finally a journalist who actually gets what populism is. She properly diagnoses the problems of American politics as a problem of the attitudes inherent to the ruling class, of whom Hillary Clinton is a perfect template. Even during her husband’s administration during those carefree 90’s the author revisits, she was wildly unpopular because of her condescending, superior, dismissive, clinical attitude. Even back then, she seemed pathologically unable or unwilling to suppress her condescending attitude to further her political ambitions and as a result, her greatest chance at the presidency in 2008 was taken by a newcomer who was a master of the art. Whether or not he truly felt empathy for the people, Obama was a master of conveying empathy, which dulled the edge on his equally condescending elitist attitude, even for people who should have known better, like myself. The elites seem to believe that they can defeat populism by defeating Trump, either through criminal proceedings or through a decisive defeat at the ballot box in 2024, neither of which seems like a sure bet at the moment. Once again, their attitudes fail them. They see Trump as the manipulating carnival barker he actually is, but their attitudes then lead them to the faulty conclusion that Trump’s supporters are, by and large, idiots who are being misled. They ascribe to Trump some Svengali like power of manipulation despite the fact that nothing he had done in the previous thirty years before 2016 as a quasi-celebrity suggesting he possesses any such power beyond the average daytime talk show host. This is their error. Most Trump supporters, especially the ones who don’t attend rallies and quietly go about their business in the ballot box, are well aware of the man’s many failings and don’t particularly like him, but they like the alternative even less. The elites have yet to truly comprehend the reality, that people are not voting FOR Trump, but AGAINST the condescending, elitist, globally focused ruling class that grew up after the fall of the Soviet Union during those carefree 90s. As the author so brilliantly points out, if they can defeat Trump, and that’s a big if at this point, they’re in for a rude awakening, because populism will not go away. It will simply find a new vehicle to vent its fury upon the political elite class, maybe DeSantis, maybe Ramaswamy, maybe somebody we haven’t heard of yet. Regardless, populism is moored not to Trump, but to them, to the Hillary Clintons of the world. Thus, it cannot be defeated by defeating Trump or any external opponent, but through conscious self-reform, a shift in attitudes that moves away from unconstrained globalism, away from social engineering, away from technocratic solutions that attempt to alter human behavior, and towards more democratic solutions that respect human beings as conscious actors and seek to negotiate with them rather than manipulate, educate, or ‘cure’ them. Moreover, to the extent that America has dominated the world, so too has it exported its politics, and we see similar dynamics in Europe and elsewhere. Populism is everywhere rising, and defeating Trump, or Meloni, or Farage, or Le Pen, or the AfD, will barely slow down its inevitable march.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve Jolly
Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Frankenstein destroyed by the monster he created.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Watch “Uniparty” come into increasing usage. Mitch McConnell is cut from the same cloth as the Clintons.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Frankenstein destroyed by the monster he created.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Watch “Uniparty” come into increasing usage. Mitch McConnell is cut from the same cloth as the Clintons.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

Bullseye. Finally a journalist who actually gets what populism is. She properly diagnoses the problems of American politics as a problem of the attitudes inherent to the ruling class, of whom Hillary Clinton is a perfect template. Even during her husband’s administration during those carefree 90’s the author revisits, she was wildly unpopular because of her condescending, superior, dismissive, clinical attitude. Even back then, she seemed pathologically unable or unwilling to suppress her condescending attitude to further her political ambitions and as a result, her greatest chance at the presidency in 2008 was taken by a newcomer who was a master of the art. Whether or not he truly felt empathy for the people, Obama was a master of conveying empathy, which dulled the edge on his equally condescending elitist attitude, even for people who should have known better, like myself. The elites seem to believe that they can defeat populism by defeating Trump, either through criminal proceedings or through a decisive defeat at the ballot box in 2024, neither of which seems like a sure bet at the moment. Once again, their attitudes fail them. They see Trump as the manipulating carnival barker he actually is, but their attitudes then lead them to the faulty conclusion that Trump’s supporters are, by and large, idiots who are being misled. They ascribe to Trump some Svengali like power of manipulation despite the fact that nothing he had done in the previous thirty years before 2016 as a quasi-celebrity suggesting he possesses any such power beyond the average daytime talk show host. This is their error. Most Trump supporters, especially the ones who don’t attend rallies and quietly go about their business in the ballot box, are well aware of the man’s many failings and don’t particularly like him, but they like the alternative even less. The elites have yet to truly comprehend the reality, that people are not voting FOR Trump, but AGAINST the condescending, elitist, globally focused ruling class that grew up after the fall of the Soviet Union during those carefree 90s. As the author so brilliantly points out, if they can defeat Trump, and that’s a big if at this point, they’re in for a rude awakening, because populism will not go away. It will simply find a new vehicle to vent its fury upon the political elite class, maybe DeSantis, maybe Ramaswamy, maybe somebody we haven’t heard of yet. Regardless, populism is moored not to Trump, but to them, to the Hillary Clintons of the world. Thus, it cannot be defeated by defeating Trump or any external opponent, but through conscious self-reform, a shift in attitudes that moves away from unconstrained globalism, away from social engineering, away from technocratic solutions that attempt to alter human behavior, and towards more democratic solutions that respect human beings as conscious actors and seek to negotiate with them rather than manipulate, educate, or ‘cure’ them. Moreover, to the extent that America has dominated the world, so too has it exported its politics, and we see similar dynamics in Europe and elsewhere. Populism is everywhere rising, and defeating Trump, or Meloni, or Farage, or Le Pen, or the AfD, will barely slow down its inevitable march.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve Jolly
Harry Child
Harry Child
1 year ago

C.S.Lewis understood the arrogant liberal lite when he wrote ” but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” He wrote this in 1949, just how bad has it become since then? From one of her “deplorables”

Harry Child
Harry Child
1 year ago

C.S.Lewis understood the arrogant liberal lite when he wrote ” but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” He wrote this in 1949, just how bad has it become since then? From one of her “deplorables”

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

What is the treatment? She suggests that governments bring opportunities back to hard-hit areas, stem the need to leave communities to find work, and put the family first
”

I suspect if they did this in the first place, there wouldn’t be such contempt for the anointed ones like Clinton.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

What is the treatment? She suggests that governments bring opportunities back to hard-hit areas, stem the need to leave communities to find work, and put the family first
”

I suspect if they did this in the first place, there wouldn’t be such contempt for the anointed ones like Clinton.

Mike Michaels
Mike Michaels
1 year ago

Poor Hillary. Anybody would be lonely when 72 of their closest friends and associates have committed suicide.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Michaels

I met this nice couple last month and they tragically committed suicide by hanging themselves, shooting themselves in the chest four times each, and then getting in a car and lighting it on fire.

L Walker
L Walker
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Definitely the worst case of suicide I’ve ever heard of.

L Walker
L Walker
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Definitely the worst case of suicide I’ve ever heard of.

DA Johnson
DA Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Michaels

72? Please name names.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Michaels

Jeffrey Epstein didn’t commit suicide.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

It was an assisted suicide.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Jerry Carroll

It was an assisted suicide.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Michaels

I met this nice couple last month and they tragically committed suicide by hanging themselves, shooting themselves in the chest four times each, and then getting in a car and lighting it on fire.

DA Johnson
DA Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Michaels

72? Please name names.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Michaels

Jeffrey Epstein didn’t commit suicide.

Mike Michaels
Mike Michaels
1 year ago

Poor Hillary. Anybody would be lonely when 72 of their closest friends and associates have committed suicide.

Mark epperson
Mark epperson
1 year ago

Hills got what she deserved, cubed. A nasty, vindictive harridan who couldn’t beat the Orange dude after all of those years of scheming, spying, manipulating, and having the propaganda sites, er media, go all out to destroy Trump. The voters chose and the “loneliest person” is Clinton who cannot move on but desperately tries to stay relevant. Sad and pathetic.

Joycelyn Campbell
Joycelyn Campbell
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark epperson

The voters actually chose Clinton, which you would know if you knew what you were talking about. The Electoral College elected Trump. Facts are hard.

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

The fact is the Electoral College wisely chose Trump.

Tom Conroy
Tom Conroy
1 year ago

Presidential candidates who are intelligent know how the Electoral College works and target resources at swing states accordingly. Trump did that, Clinton didn’t and if the election were decided on the popular vote the Trump campaign would have put more effort in to Texas or rural areas of Blue states. Clinton would have still lost.

Last edited 1 year ago by Tom Conroy
Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago

Repeat after me: We live in a Republic not a democracy. Now, write it out a hundred times. You’ll get it yet.

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

The fact is the Electoral College wisely chose Trump.

Tom Conroy
Tom Conroy
1 year ago

Presidential candidates who are intelligent know how the Electoral College works and target resources at swing states accordingly. Trump did that, Clinton didn’t and if the election were decided on the popular vote the Trump campaign would have put more effort in to Texas or rural areas of Blue states. Clinton would have still lost.

Last edited 1 year ago by Tom Conroy
Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago

Repeat after me: We live in a Republic not a democracy. Now, write it out a hundred times. You’ll get it yet.

Joycelyn Campbell
Joycelyn Campbell
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark epperson

The voters actually chose Clinton, which you would know if you knew what you were talking about. The Electoral College elected Trump. Facts are hard.

Mark epperson
Mark epperson
1 year ago

Hills got what she deserved, cubed. A nasty, vindictive harridan who couldn’t beat the Orange dude after all of those years of scheming, spying, manipulating, and having the propaganda sites, er media, go all out to destroy Trump. The voters chose and the “loneliest person” is Clinton who cannot move on but desperately tries to stay relevant. Sad and pathetic.

Jonathan Andrews
Jonathan Andrews
1 year ago

Loneliness is a personal tragedy and, like all others like bereavement, the breakdown of a relationship or whatever, cannot be helped by the state.

My guess is the best cure is an unexpected moment of kindness, some random life event that helps lonely people find friendship.

Jonathan Andrews
Jonathan Andrews
1 year ago

Loneliness is a personal tragedy and, like all others like bereavement, the breakdown of a relationship or whatever, cannot be helped by the state.

My guess is the best cure is an unexpected moment of kindness, some random life event that helps lonely people find friendship.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago

Hillary Clinton looms large in her own imagination. But she couldn’t even pass the Washington DC bar
.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 year ago

Hillary Clinton looms large in her own imagination. But she couldn’t even pass the Washington DC bar
.

david barlow
david barlow
1 year ago

Years of loneliness being married to Mr President, is my diagnosis of her obsession. But, then again, I’m no psychologist.

david barlow
david barlow
1 year ago

Years of loneliness being married to Mr President, is my diagnosis of her obsession. But, then again, I’m no psychologist.

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago

Dear Killary: Well, shut your mouth – you, hateful, horrible excuse for a person (let alone a woman). Your wah wah talk was on almost at midnight on Rachel Mad Cow’s show.
Let’s talk about Benghazi, shall we? Or… “What difference does it make?”

Last edited 1 year ago by Jimjim McHale
Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Jimjim McHale

Someone forgot to take their meds this morning!
Didn’t they talk about Benghazi for 11 hours at the house hearings where the swivel eyed loons of the GOP were thoroughly humiliated by Mrs Clinton? Yes, I seem to remember that.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 year ago

“We came, we saw, he died”. Killary doing her best job as Foreign Secretary.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Toady.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 year ago

“We came, we saw, he died”. Killary doing her best job as Foreign Secretary.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Toady.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Jimjim McHale

Someone forgot to take their meds this morning!
Didn’t they talk about Benghazi for 11 hours at the house hearings where the swivel eyed loons of the GOP were thoroughly humiliated by Mrs Clinton? Yes, I seem to remember that.

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago

Dear Killary: Well, shut your mouth – you, hateful, horrible excuse for a person (let alone a woman). Your wah wah talk was on almost at midnight on Rachel Mad Cow’s show.
Let’s talk about Benghazi, shall we? Or… “What difference does it make?”

Last edited 1 year ago by Jimjim McHale
Dominic English
Dominic English
1 year ago

The race to ‘medicalise’ the Right is ongoing. Here’s an article about how scientists have managed to identify ‘Conservative’ brains. How do you think they manage to do that? (Spoiler Alert: They just look for the broken ones that don’t work correctly and label them Conservative.) https://open.substack.com/pub/lowstatus/p/cere-bedlam?r=evzeq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

They’ve already medicalised the Left, now terminal cases.

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

They’ve already medicalised the Left, now terminal cases.

Dominic English
Dominic English
1 year ago

The race to ‘medicalise’ the Right is ongoing. Here’s an article about how scientists have managed to identify ‘Conservative’ brains. How do you think they manage to do that? (Spoiler Alert: They just look for the broken ones that don’t work correctly and label them Conservative.) https://open.substack.com/pub/lowstatus/p/cere-bedlam?r=evzeq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

First of the ‘wife ofs’ who everybody sensible ignores and didn’t elect. The foolish Mrs Obama is another. I used to be married to a teacher, do I walk into a school and start taking classes?

Joycelyn Campbell
Joycelyn Campbell
1 year ago
Reply to  James Kirk

That’s incoherent and misogynistic. Also, the American voters DID in fact choose Hillary Clinton over Trump. Facts matter.

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

How come? A successful footballer’s wife doesn’t get picked for the team. I don’t get to use my wife’s qualifications to apply for a job. If you think Clinton and Obama are fit for purpose you are the incoherent one if you can’t see the damage Democrats have done.

Christopher Thompson
Christopher Thompson
1 year ago

Why is that misogynistic?

James Kirk
James Kirk
1 year ago

How come? A successful footballer’s wife doesn’t get picked for the team. I don’t get to use my wife’s qualifications to apply for a job. If you think Clinton and Obama are fit for purpose you are the incoherent one if you can’t see the damage Democrats have done.

Christopher Thompson
Christopher Thompson
1 year ago

Why is that misogynistic?