Hillary’s Unhealthy Credibility
The ever-changing narrative compounds issues with her trustworthiness.
As we reported Sunday, Hillary Clinton was filmed collapsing after leaving early from that morning’s 9/11 memorial tribute. The initial explanation released by her campaign was that she had become overheated. Hours later, the narrative changed as Hillary emerged from her daughter’s apartment waving and declaring that she felt great. It was then revealed that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia by her doctor on Friday, two days prior to her collapse.
Before this latest episode, questions about the status of Hillary’s health had been met by her campaign with accusations of unsubstantiated “conspiracy” theories or with dismissive references to minor dehydration issues. Bill Clinton unhelpfully suggested such dehydration happened “frequently — not frequently, rarely but on more than one occasion.” In any case, what has become increasingly evident is that Clinton, similar to her responses to questions regarding her private email scandal and her involvement in Benghazi, opts for obfuscation rather than transparency every time.
Donald Trump declared that he will release his medical records and that Hillary should follow suit. But yesterday, when Hillary was questioned by CNN’s Anderson Cooper as to why she had not revealed her pneumonia diagnosis sooner, her response was once again to deflect. She said, “Well, I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.” All her explanation has done is fuel speculations that she is hiding some other more significant health issue. Hillary’s instinct to cover up rather than be open and honest effectively turned a minor news incident into a major campaign problem. As Charles Krauthammer noted, “[T]his is another case of the cover-up being worse than the crime.” And her handling of this latest issue only serves as further evidence that her credibility is what’s truly unhealthy.
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- Hillary Clinton
- 2016 election