Hillary Clinton, to no one’s surprise, wants to be president. Democrats cleared the decks for her to run essentially unopposed in a primary, and now she’s formally accepting her party’s coronation.
Clinton has been in the public eye for nearly 4 decades. So what are the most important things you need to know about Hillary Clinton?
1. Hillary Clinton is out of touch.
Last year, responding to a question about her speaking fees and Bill Clinton making $100 million from speeches, Clinton told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer that they were “dead broke” when they left the White House. In fact, she claimed they struggled to pay for “mortgages for houses.” That’s houses, plural, and doesn’t even include their mansion vacation rentals. After leaving the State Department, Clinton made millions all the while she demanded lemon wedges, hummus, and crudité backstage at her $300,000 public universities speaking engagements. Oh, and she admitted she hasn’t driven a car since 1996.
2. Hillary Clinton wants voters to trust her. But they shouldn’t.
During Clinton’s email scandal, she asked that the American people to trust she didn’t delete emails relating to her work at the State Department. But the Clintons have a long history of abusing the public’s trust. Invariably the Clintons always plead innocence, but nearly every major editorial board in the country questioned Clinton’s motives, noting her long history of secrecy.
Worse for Clinton, she’s a proven exaggerator. Case in point: the time she repeatedly claimed she came under “sniper fire” during a plane landing in Bosnia. That report was refuted by Andrea Mitchell, who was on the trip with Clinton.
3. Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy record is abysmal.
Clinton has a long list of failed foreign policy gaffes. During her first year as Secretary of State, she famously tried to “reset” relations with Russian—something she later called a “brilliant stroke”—that has been an utter failure. In 2011, she advocated for a war in Libya that has triggered a crisis in that is destabilizing the region. From Libya to Syria to Iran, the Clinton foreign policy in the Middle East has failed. Clinton also refused to label Boko Haram—who just pledged allegiance to ISIS—a terrorist organization.
4. Hillary Clinton ran the State Department… into the ground.
Clinton often brings up her time at the State Department, touting the number of miles she traveled and countries she’s visited. The problem? She can’t name a single accomplishment from her time there. And to make matters worse, Inspectors General reports have blasted her mismanagement, noting she lost more than $6 billion of taxpayer dollars due to “a lack of internal control” at the department.
5. Oh, and Hillary Clinton’s terrible on domestic policies, too.
There is no daylight between the policies of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. On every meaningful piece of legislation and executive action, Clinton has supported Obama every step of the way. That includes the fact that she is the mother of ObamaCare, having pushed for the idea more than 20 years ago (Obama said his plan was 95% similar to Clinton’s). Other areas where Clinton matches up seamlessly with Obama include ensuring China would buy U.S. debt to fund the stimulus, raising taxes on businesses, harmful EPA regulations, cap-and-trade, and sidestepping major issues like Keystone. In short, a Clinton presidency would serve as a third term for Obama.