CNN's Collinson Doesn't Get It: Hillary Was Not "Vanquished!"

"Clinton, Trump can't stop airing their 2016 grievances"

The above-headlined article by CNN's Stephen Collinson was published yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, May 2nd.

T
That headline was annoying enough.

But it's the kind of article in which you can pick apart ALMOST every last line.  I'm not going to pick apart EVERY last line, but MANY of Collinson's lines invite retort, and that is what he is going to get.

The Victorious and the Vanquished?

Collinson started:

America has two ex-candidates, the victorious Donald Trump and the vanquished Hillary Clinton who just can't let it lie.

I felt my blood pressure rise.  Come on, Collinson, "vanquished"?  She beat Trump by three million votes, for heaven's sake!  She lost the anachronistic and gerrymandered Electoral College!

(Let's remember that the Electoral College is automatically gerrymandered.  Each Electoral College vote in California represented 260,000 Presidential voters in 2016.  Meanwhile, in Wyoming, each Electoral College vote represented a mere 85,000 Presidential voters in 2016.  That means that, if you live in Wyoming, you have three times the clout of the average California voter.  Doesn't seem that fair to me.)

"Bitter":  Wow, what a loaded, sexist word.

Collinson talks about Clinton's "bitterness".  Women are often depicted as "bitter" when they are (rightfully) really angry!  "Bitter" is not an adjective used as commonly to describe men's anger as it is used to describe women's anger.  And older women are more often described as "bitter" than younger women.  Hillary Clinton SHOULD be angry!  Isn't Collinson angry looking at what Trump is doing to this country?  If not, he should be, even if that makes him "bitter".

The Russians!  The Comey letter!

A phrase:  Collingon talks about Clinton "pointing to Russia and FBI Chief James Comey as the key drivers of her loss."  Well, YES!  While many people out there are still dissecting the election, many are completely overlooking the point that Clinton would have WON the Electoral College as well as the popular vote had the election been held two or three weeks earlier.  Clinton knows this.  

Did Collinson ever think that Hillary might just be as concerned as the rest of us about what is happening under Trump's Presidency?  That it is scary, repulsive, disturbing, and that Trump's ignorance is just plain dangerous.. not just to "bitter" Clinton but to any of us who have an ounce of sense?  Perhaps Collinson is one of those without that "ounce of sense"?

Is she "bitter" or just plain angry and scared about the future of this country that she loves.. that she obviously loves more than Trump does?  Collinson, have you spent any of the last 102 days looking at what is going on in this country?  The kinds of people that Trump has appointed; the kinds of policies that he has pushed?  Thank heavens that he is not getting his way in most court cases and with the Congress.  He is an ignorant, despicable fool who has no business in the White House.  Clinton bitter?  She knows how incompetent Trump is, just as the rest of us should, including you, Stephen Collinson. 

Deep in his Soul...

Collinson continues:

Trump, for his part, rarely lets more than a few days go by without boasting about his outsider win.  

Perhaps because Trump actually DOES realize that he didn't win the popular vote.. and it bothers the hell out of him.  

Come on, Collinson:

The President is extraordinarily touchy about the merest suggestion that his victory is not totally authentic.   

Perhaps Trump KNOWS that his victory is not authentic and we should know that as well.. even you, Collinson.  What's going to happen when the connections to the Russians actually start to come out, when we find a few smoking guns?  You don't think that Trump fears that?  

We're Not Clinton Fanbots

Collinson writes:  

Clinton has now given her supporters, many of whom believe she was cheated out of breaking the highest, hardest glass ceiling in politics, even more reasons to view Trump as illegitimate.

Clinton voters are not stupid.  The more educated the voter, the more likely the person voted for Clinton.  We're not little fanbots; we don't need Clinton to tell us what is glaringly obvious:  Trump IS illegitimate  and she WAS cheated and it is going to become more obvious as time goes by.

And the President is unlikely to take a pass at Clinton's unflattering description of his performance, including her renewal of her claim that he was unprepared for office.

Clinton's unflattering description?  We don't need Hillary Clinton to tell us that Trump was unprepared for office; that should be clear to anyone who breathes these days.

Clinton is right.

Then Collinson quotes Clinton in yesterday's interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour:

I was on the way to winning until a combination of (FBI Director) Jim Comey's letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off. 

The evidence for that intervening event is, I think, compelling, persuasive, and so we overcame a lot in the campaign...

Clinton also added that believed misogyny played a role in her defeat.

OKay, Collinson, what's wrong with that?  She's exactly right.  And I've been saying that for months now; I didn't need Clinton to tell me that, in fact, I'm glad it is becoming apparent to Clinton and a big chunk of the 65 million Americans who voted for her.

Is Clinton "goading" Trump? 

In fact, she seemed positively to be goading the President:

"If he wants to tweet about me, then I am happy to be the diversion because we have a lot of things to worry about," Clinton told Amanpour.

He should worry less about the election and my winning the popular vote than doing some other things that would be important for the country.

What else can I say to this but "Good for her!"  Go Hillary! She's completely right.  Hillary, refuse to let yourself be pigeonholed as "bitter" or a "sore loser".  

A feud with Clinton could help Trump?
Collinson continues:

A knock-down, drag-out feud with Clinton -- a political figure as polarizing as himself -- could cheer his base and rally Republicans who are still cool to him who also deplore the former secretary of state.

Deplore the former Secretary of State?  The most popular woman in the world for years?  The woman who led all of the polls for President in 2015.. before the Russians, the uber-lefties started to pile on along with the misogynists and the alt-right?  If people "deplore" her, it is in part due to the decades of propaganda and brainwashing that have been thrown against her... and then the Russians and the uber-lefties piling on.  Collinson's been writing about the White House and American politics for a few years now; he should know that.  

But blaming Comey for the loss appears to absolve Clinton of her campaign's failure to effectively counter Trump's electorally appealing message in industrialized Midwestern states that went red instead of their usual blue.

Stop with the crap about the "industrialized Midwest"

Collinson, this is bullshit, and I personally am tired of it.  She would have won if the election had been held 2-3 weeks earlier, "industrialized Midwest" or not.  She was leading in all of those states 2-3-4 weeks earlier.  The crap that she lost due to these poor, disaffected old white men is just that... crap.  Why were these people going to vote for her 2-3 weeks earlier?  She lost 3-4% in polling in the last three weeks before the election.  

If you want to talk about "character and honesty", Collinson, let's talk about Trump... 

But on the other hand, Comey's comments were related to the investigation into the private email server that Clinton set up as secretary of state, in apparent infringement of government guidelines. It was that issue and her handling of it throughout the campaign that helped revive questions about the character and honesty of the Clintons that had remained largely dormant since former President Bill Clinton left office in 2001.

Gimme a break, Collinson.  Comey talked about the private email server and never bothered to mention the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling on behalf of the Trump people.  

And "character and honesty":  What about the character and honesty of Trump?  Did you bother to look at Politifact and their Truth-o-meter, Collinson?  Hillary may have made "mistakes", but Trump was the least honest candidate in modern history.  68% of his statements have been rated as mostly false, false, or Pant-a-fire.  And, as the weeks go on, we also have seen that he is the least prepared, least knowledgeable, most corrupt President to take the oath of office.

And let's remember that a majority of the American people knew it.  They did NOT vote for him.  He did NOT win the popular vote, and that is still important as he tries to get some kind of "agenda" enacted.

Impressing her critics?

Her performance did not impress some critics:  

So Collinson quotes that conservative chick S.E. Cupp. Well, duh, no, her performance will NOT impress conservatives, but then nothing any "liberal" or "Democrat" will do will impress conservatives.

About 2020?

"Yet its familiar faces -- Barack Obama, Sanders and now Clinton -- who appear to be attracting the most attention so far -- underlining its weak bench of up-and-comers ready for the big time."

Weak bench?  Was Bill Clinton on that "weak bench" in 1989?  Was Barack Obama on the "weak bench" in 2005?  And look at who the "weak bench" is up against:  Trump, the most idiotic, the most unpopular President in a long, long time.  So let's just wait and see.  

And Collinson, maybe it is time for you to pack your bags and go back to Britain.