Hillary is surrounded by so many scandals and unanswered questions it’s often difficult to keep track of the daily developments. Just a few of the recent scandals and allegations include lying about her “pneumonia” diagnosis (does anyone actually believe she has pneumonia, btw?), a private server setup to intentionally avoid FOIA requests during her term as Secretary of State, missing emails that were never turned over to the State Department, actual admissions from IT specialists that they deleted emails despite knowledge of a federal subpoena, pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, $100s of millions of dollars collected from paid speeches to wealthy donors and the Benghazi coverup that resulted in the death of American soldiers and a diplomat. And this doesn’t even touch upon the early year scandals including Whitewater, Troopergate, Travelgate, Vince Foster’s suicide, etc, etc, etc.
Any single one of these scandals/allegations probably would have been enough to topple a mere mortal candidate. As such, it’s no wonder that the Clintons maintain extreme levels of secrecy in their personal and professional lives. It’s hard to keep that many scandals contained if you open up to too many people.
That said, as The Hill reports, the secrecy surrounding Clinton is starting to worry her staff and Democratic strategists as the latest polls show her tanking.
“The Clintons have been around long enough to know better,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. “I hope Hillary learns a lesson, but she has always been so secretive that I’m not optimistic.”
Another Clinton surrogate put it more bluntly: “I just don’t know how she has a personality transplant. You can’t change people. They can only do it themselves.”
Meanwhile former Obama adviser, David Axelrod, recently expressed concerns over Hillary’s constant secrecy as well saying, “Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What’s the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?”
And, per HeatStreet, the Democratic CHC Bold PAC is worried enough about a Trump victory that they put out the following email to donors declaring a Trump victory. The email attempts to frighten donors into coughing up (pun intended) all of their money by warning that “Trump is SURGING in key battleground states” as “time is running out” for Hillary to rebound.
But, Democratic strategist and fundraisers aren’t the only ones worried about Hillary’s chances. Everyday voters are also getting worried that what seemed like an easy win just weeks ago is now looking, in the best case scenario, like a difficult fight that will come down to the wire. Per Bloomberg:
“I’m totally afraid. Donald Trump definitely has the chance to win. It’s really close. Closing here in Pennsylvania and Florida,” said Clinton Barnes of Philadelphia, who attended President Barack Obama’s rally there Tuesday for Clinton. “It’s all spooky.”
“Hillary’s been her own worst enemy,” he said. “People think she’s dishonest.”
The secrecy is even catching Clinton’s staffers off guard as they’re forced to put out fires (sorry, plumes of smoke) that they didn’t even know existed. As told by The Hill, many Clinton staffers didn’t even know Clinton had “pneumonia” until after her Sunday collapse at the 9/11 memorial service. Meanwhile, observers of the Clinton campaign point out that Hillary really only confides in Huma Abedine and Jake Sullivan.
Close observers of Clinton’s campaign say she’s become increasingly insulated and depends on just a couple of close aides, Huma Abedin — who has been with Clinton the longest — and Jake Sullivan.
They say other top advisers are sometimes kept in the dark: Some of Clinton’s aides didn’t know of her pneumonia diagnosis on Friday until it became public Sunday evening, sources say.
But, of course, if you ask Hillary, she’s the most transparent candidate ever to run for President.
Asked by Cooper about the perception by some voters that she isn’t transparent or trustworthy, Clinton replied, “People know more about me than almost anyone in public life.”
“They’ve got 40 years of my tax returns, tens of thousands of emails, a detailed medical letter report, all kinds of personal details,” she said. “As soon as it became clear I couldn’t power through, we, you know, we said what was going on.”
But who cares about all of this anyway? The real question is when is Trump going to release his detailed medical records?
via http://ift.tt/2cn7CwJ Tyler Durden