Editor’s note: This is part of a two-part series examining the strong feelings of mistrust amongst American voters
We’ve already looked at the many reasons people tend to hate Donald Trump, and now it is lifelong politician Hillary Clinton’s turn. While she has positioned herself as a champion for families who will be ready to take on the nation’s top political office armed with an understanding of today’s nascent global economy, many find her untrustworthy and unpalatable.
Why, exactly, is that?
For one her last name is Clinton. And while the ’90s were a time of peace and prosperity for many Americans, many of the policies put into place back then have not aged well. Husband Bill has been reduced from the suave tactician and leader of the free world, to a bumbling white-haired grandfather who likes going off script and jostling crowds over sore subjects such as Obamacare.
But Hillary has yet to achieve the apple of her eye, Oval Office itself, and appears willing to stop at nothing until she presumes that position.
Here’s five reasons we think many American voters just can’t stand the thought of her:
She’s part of American political royalty
For many reasons some voters despise Trump — he is aristocratic, wealthy, and had some hand-me-downs worth tens of millions of dollars — the Clintons are no longer seen as a family from humble beginnings. Rather, as Sen. Bernie Sanders pointed out in the primaries quite often, she has relished the limelight of public speaking (along with Bill) and charged fees well north of $20 million.
Her daughter was raised in the White House, and Clinton has seemingly befriended every powerful establishment Democrat worth knowing over the past 30 some-odd years — including the superdelegates that hand picked her, and helped usher in the defeat of Bernie Sanders.
She appears to be a little ‘crooked’
From the Libya intervention and Benghazi scandals that engulfed her final days in the State Department, to the eruption over the high-level secrecy involved in the ever-growing saga of her private email sever, to pay-for-play practices involving the Clinton Foundation …it just seems as if Hillary can’t keep her nose clean.
And then when faced with answering the American public, her pearly whites appear to hide the words that might reveal what actually happened behind the scenes. Secrecy is nothing new to American politics, but with her, it appears to be exceptionally shady. Trump, of course, pounced on the collective sentiment by dubbing her #CrookedHillary early on in the campaign. In a word, she appears to be misleading.
Her powerful political donors
In a campaign season that, at least during the primaries, has egged on candidates who could not be “bought and sold.” From her billionaire real-estate tycoon of an opponent in the general election to the self-styled democratic socialist of social media fame, it appeared as if the populace has been clamoring for someone that has forever steered clear of the string-pulling that happens over on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign has accepted donations from 1,370 fundraisers (or Hillblazers) by the campaign that have amounted to $137 million. Then there is the mass media — almost universally despised — whose top dogs have poured millions into her campaign as well.
Her flip flops on the issues
Although it has been called a post-gaffe election, many issues important to America today are ones Clinton has either changed her position on, or only just now come around to stating a solid position. Her efforts to produce a chameleon-like existence in the world of politics have included some ridiculous stunts, such changing her accent depending upon the audience or having a shot and a beer to appear kin to working people.
That’s in addition to her many, many flip flops on issues such as coal power, gay marriage and the Trans-Pacific Partnership that even liberals find hard to come to terms with.
Her gender
Many amongst the Twitterati and other folks at the crossroads of politics and the internet have questioned Hillary’s ability to lead the nation based upon one premise: The fact that she is a woman. One who can’t feel, who allowed her husband’s philandering to propagate, one who wants what’s best for herself over everything. And although intellectuals from are fond of beating the drum of sexism, there are plenty of people of her own gender who would rather “Make America Great Again” than elect the first woman president: