Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton – ‘horrific troll of a candidate’
All the focus groups say Hillary Clinton is a terrible candidate for the Democrats who could make them lose, says political analyst Daniel Patrick Welch. Americans consider her as part of the establishment and want to hear anything that challenges that, he adds.
RT: Just a few months ago, Bernie Sanders was being written off in favor of Hillary Clinton but things have changed drastically since then. How did Sanders manage to become a frontrunner?
Daniel Patrick Welch: The clear fact is that Americans for all of the height, for all of the political and media spin, are very angry. Hillary Clinton is seen as part of the establishment. And anything that challenges that is actually something that Americans want to hear. During tonight’s debates what you saw was someone like Bernie Sanders speaking facts and Hillary Clinton mouthing platitudes and trained lines and coaxed, couched speechwriters like puppet strings. That doesn’t fly. People don’t want to hear that right now, in the post-recession America.
RT: The establishment certainly won't be happy with the reforms Sanders is proposing. What kind of tactics can we expect to see used against him?
DPW: They have already started it. They have said time and again: “If Sanders wins the nomination, the Republicans will put up a hammer and sickle.” I mean, the guy is a mild social-democrat at best. The point is – this is all an orchestrated farce. If they - meaning the empire, the elite - decide that they need to make this work by throwing the people a bone, they’ll choose Sanders over Hillary Clinton in a New York minute. They don’t care. If they can control him and control what comes of it, they would throw Hillary Clinton to the side. Let’s face it: she has baggage, nobody likes her, nobody wants her. They have been trying to force her down for eight years. And it is not going to work. They would easily toss her to the side if it served their purposes.
RT: Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be faced with an arguably more difficult battle against a Republican candidate. Can the Democrats really win after two terms in the White House and while Congress is dominated by the Republicans?
DPW: …It is not about the American society [making a decision], let’s face it… It is about the elites deciding which is going to sell their wars better. And if it were Trump, for example, then obviously if it was Sanders vs. Trump, the elite would pick Sanders because Trump is a clown. But if you want to pick this pattern, and pick Rubio or Cruz over the Democratic nominee, you could keep the thing running for another eight years. That’s the game, it’s to keep the money flowing.
RT: Do you think they will go red rather than blue next time?
DPW: No, I don’t. That depends on who the nominees are. They don’t care as long as the people… I think that mass unrest is enough of a scare for the empire that they will go blue. But it has to be the right thing. They have to bump up the social safety net; they have to cover their flank because the recession is permanent for the bottom four quintiles. This is an ugly thing for everyone making under $100,000 in the US…
RT: Should we expect the rebranding of the Democrats in the near future? Is that something Bernie Sanders can actually cope with?
DPW: The fact is he is the only one who could. The thing is you can’t go right if you want to accommodate, then you have to go left or at least false left. You have to pick this faux socialist to carry that banner. And if they need it, they will. The thing is if you want to accommodate ‘The Occupy’ movement, ‘Black Lives Matter’, if you want to erase Katrina and undo the damage that has been done to the social fabric in the US, and kind of absolve the empire or keep it going as it were - you have to have a course correction. The empire is completely in line with this. They couldn’t care less, they can easily take a bump up in the minimum wage, a tiny expansion in the social safety net because $100 billion is nothing compared to the trillions that the military-industrial complex will make by continuing the wars. And if they get that going they don’t care who the nominee or the president is. It will work.
RT: How moderate and progressive can Hillary Clinton be?
DRW: She is a horrific troll of a candidate. An absolute nightmare. Always has that for the Democratic Party. She is this hag who is hanging around trying to be president because it is her turn. And they want to cover put this lipstick on a pig as it were. Bernie Sanders is calling her out on it. And that’s the truth of the matter. All the focus groups are telling them that this is a terrible candidate. If she is the Democratic candidate, the Democrats will lose. If they can switch it off like they did in 2008, they win. The question is whether Bernie Sanders can win South Carolina: that is the deciding factor. If he can win South Carolina, he’s got it locked up.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
