Should Joe Biden stumble before November and should Kamala Harris prove too toxic to take his place, Democrats can rest assured: Crooked Hillary is lurking in the wings.
Following Hillary Clinton’s defeat to Donald Trump in 2016, many in Washington assumed the former First Lady, senator, and Secretary of State would fade out of American politics, particularly once she became implicated in helping to mastermind and orchestrate the “Russiagate” hoax, the dirtiest political smear in U.S. history. But following the trend of other career politicians, Clinton has stubbornly refused to give up the spotlight, continuing to make the rounds on cable news and appear at speaking engagements.
Following Trump’s controversial conviction in a Manhattan courtroom last week, Clinton pounced on the opportunity to draw attention to herself within hours, hawking coffee mugs that claim she was “right about everything.” (This comes despite the fact that there is actual evidence that Clinton herself broke the very New York law under which Trump was charged, while by most impartial assessments, he did not.)
Last month, Clinton also made headlines following an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” where she accused the Supreme Court of “doing our country a grave disservice in not deciding the case about [Trump’s] immunity.”
She additionally warned about “propaganda” on social media, apparently referring to content that runs counter to left-wing narratives. Ironically, (as many forget) it was Hillary and her minions who coined the term “fake news” in 2016 as an excuse for her underperformance against Trump—paving the way for the colossal censorship machine that has been constructed in the years since.
During another appearance at a Columbia University symposium on Artificial Intelligence in March, Clinton continued her pattern of whining about Russian President Vladimir Putin supposedly “undermining” her in 2016 by spreading “disinformation” on Facebook. Last November, she also penned an op-ed for The Atlantic on the Gaza war, highlighting her foreign policy experience.
As NBC News reported late last year, Clinton has “stepp[ed] into a role as one of the most prominent and influential surrogates in Biden’s re-election effort.” That effort includes hosting million-dollar fundraisers for Biden and rubbing elbows with Democrat Party elites.
One likely reason for Clinton’s burst in activity over the past year could be that she clings to the secret ambition that she may yet have another shot at the White House.
Although Hillary would never admit it publicly, the reality is that Joe Biden’s physical and cognitive decline are obvious to even his most fervent supporters, to the extent that he has any. At this late stage of the race, there are very few names who could step up and replace Biden if the president becomes incapacitated – or possibly faces a mutiny among Democrat Party elites.
Should Biden prove unable to carry the Democrat banner this November, Kamala Harris would be the most obvious choice to replace him. But as I have previously argued, Harris might be even more of a liability than Biden due to her extreme unpopularity and growing list of embarrassing gaffes.
When the glaring weakness of Biden and Harris is taken into consideration, even such a divisive, unpopular, and tired figure as Hillary Clinton could start to become an attractive option for Democrats. Standing up a presidential campaign from scratch is an incredibly expensive and logistically challenging task, one that requires immense resources and connections – two things the Clintons have in abundance after decades in politics. Other than Biden and Obama, Clinton is the only Democrat who can boast a truly nationwide network of staffers and donors.
Clinton is also perhaps the only Democrat outside Biden and Harris with the requisite name recognition to win a national election. While another candidate might have been able to build a profile over the course of a longer campaign, Clinton is a true “plug-and-play” option.
Moreover, if Democrats are going to ditch Kamala Harris as a replacement for Biden, the byzantine rules of leftist identity politics would seem to dictate that they fill her spot with another woman.
Nonetheless, while Crooked H might be better than Biden or Harris, she is far from a strong candidate.
For starters, Trump already beat her once. The former president succeeded eight years ago in exposing Clinton’s corruption and painting her as a puppet of the political establishment, and there is every reason to believe he would effectively do it again this time around.
Clinton’s involvement in the Russiagate hoax would also likely become a major issue in the race should she emerge as the Democrat nominee. Thus far, she has largely been able to escape accountability over the fact that her campaign illegally paid for the manufacture of the infamous Steele Dossier, which falsely accused Trump of collusion with Russia and served as the basis for the FBI launching an investigation into Trump that hampered his presidency and evolved into a national nightmare.
Former Special Counsel John Durham ultimately prosecuted multiple members of Clinton’s 2016 campaign effort and produced a report laying out shocking details of what many observers have described as a criminal conspiracy involving dozens of Clinton associates.
If Clinton hopes to become president, Americans would undoubtedly want to know what exactly she knew about the underhanded scheme to smear Trump as a Russian agent.
Trump would also likely have ample evidence to argue that Hillary’s role in birthing the Russia hoax makes her the mother of modern-day censorship in America.
Given the current state of the country under Democrat rule and growing nostalgia for the economic boom times of the Trump years, Democrats may be in a bind no matter where they turn for a candidate. But as Biden continues to sink in the polls and grows weaker by the day, Hillary Clinton certainly looks like she’s rehearsing for one more turn on the stage.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
