Every negative stereotype you can think of regarding politicians can be applied to Hillary Clinton. She can be criticized for her inconsistencies regarding many issues, including her flip-flopping on gay rights, NAFTA, TPP, climate change, fracking, the Keystone XL pipeline and many other issues.
She has also built a reputation for being beholden to special interests. Whether it be her friendliness with foreign leaders of countries known for their human rights violations (Saudi Arabia’s royalty, the Duvalier family of Haiti, among others) or all of her ties to Wall Street, it seems that she is merely a puppet for all of these different people. Her pandering to minority voters, while it may seem to be a positive in this election cycle, can very easily be looked at as ingenuine and as a way to counter Trump’s strict stance on immigration.
Clinton’s position on foreign policy is also drawing criticism from people on both sides of the spectrum. Her originally fervent support for the invasion of Iraq and, while she was first lady, refusal to intervene in the Rwandan genocide and the late-intervention in Bosnia, are all deserving of criticism.
With that being said, none of that should matter in this election cycle. Despite the fact that Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy, she must be trusted for this election if we actually want to be taken seriously by the rest of the world.
Donald Trump may be an outsider and not a career politician, but how, in any way, is that good? Maybe if he had some semblance of coherence and professionalism to the way in which he conducts himself, but I have yet to see any evidence of this. His demagoguery isn’t much help either.
For example, calling for a ban of all Muslims is not only bigoted, but counter-intuitive since Islamic terrorists use Trump’s rhetoric to justify recruitment and further attacks.
Trump’s rather warm relationship with Russia is not something that should be taken lightly either, due to common political disputes with Russia.
Is it an over-exaggeration to compare Trump to Hitler, or to say that our country is doomed if we have a Trump presidency? Very much so. But to act as if his credentials, or lack thereof, are even comparable to Clinton’s is absurd.
When endorsing Clinton, P.J. O’Rourke said, “She’s wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters.”
She may not be great, good, or even decent, but if we want to prevent a fool from entering office, Clinton is our only option.
