Hillary Clinton refuses to rule out a late tilt for Donald Trump rematch
Hillary Clinton will find boulders and sinkholes in her way if she chooses to shock Americans by making an 11th-hour decision to again run for president.
At an event in London this week, former prime minister Julia Gillard asked Hillary Clinton, tongue in cheek: “I was just wondering … can you think of a time when a super-smart woman perhaps lost out to a man who was less intelligent?”
As the audience laughed, Clinton replied diplomatically: “I would never say that intelligence is everything — but it is something.”
Gillard also asked Clinton if, knowing what she knew now, she would have taken the same path, including running for president in 2016. “Oh, (I would) go ahead and forge the same path, just recognise there are boulders and sink holes and all kinds of challenges along the way,” Clinton replied.
Clinton will find far larger boulders and sinkholes in her way if she chooses to shock Americans by making an 11th-hour decision to run again for president.
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Until recently, no one — perhaps not even Clinton — took seriously the possibility that the now 72-year-old former secretary of state might make a third tilt for the White House.
But a slew of comments and hints recently by Clinton has got America talking. Could it be, really, that she is actually thinking of taking on Donald Trump again? Surely not.
Consider her words this week in an interview with BBC radio when she volunteered that “many, many, many people” were pressuring her to enter the race.
“I, as I say, never, never, never say never,” she said. “I will certainly tell you, I’m under enormous pressure from many, many, many people to think about it. But as of this moment, sitting here in this studio talking to you, that is absolutely not in my plans.
“I know, it’s way past time,” she added, acknowledging that it was late to throw her hat into the ring. “Look, I think all the time about what kind of president I would’ve been and what I would’ve done differently and what I think it would’ve meant to our country and our world … Whoever wins next time is going to have a big task trying to fix everything that’s been broken.”
These words did not sound like someone who has ruled out running for president and her comments garnered headlines back in the US. The idea of a last-minute Clinton candidacy has energised and terrified voters of all persuasions. Some Democrats love the idea of Clinton swooping in on a weak Democratic field, winning the nomination and then going on to take her sweet revenge on Trump, the man she won the popular vote against in 2016 while failing to win the election.
Clinton, who was defeated by Barack Obama for the party’s 2008 nomination, won almost three million more votes than Trump in the 2016 election — more than any other losing candidate in US history — but Trump still won the key electoral college vote 304 to 227.
Other Democrats, including many in congress, say a reborn Clinton would be a disaster, that her time has come and gone, and she needs to retire gracefully to allow Democrats and the country to move on.
Some Republicans fear Clinton’s re-entry to the race, knowing she probably would become an instant frontrunner and might pose a tougher challenge for Trump than any of the Democratic contenders. Other Republicans salivate at the prospect of a Clinton candidacy, knowing internal polling still shows Clinton to be one of the most unpopular people in the country among conservative voters. No other Democrat polarises people quite like Hillary.
Most serious pundits in the US think it is highly unlikely she will run. But after ruling out a run as recently as March, Clinton has deliberately walked back into the spotlight in recent months, stepping up her attacks on Trump and appearing on television, radio, talk shows and at events across the country.
Some dismiss the significance of this. They point out that Clinton is on a book tour with daughter Chelsea to promote the book they have written together, The Book of Gutsy Women: Favourite Stories of Courage and Resilience.
But Clinton also has chosen this critical moment — as the 18 declared Democratic candidates prepare for next year’s primary battle for the nomination — to rekindle her war with Trump.
Her public attacks have coincided with the impeachment drama that has enveloped Trump over his dealings with Ukraine.
On September 25, after revelations about Trump’s call with Ukraine’s President, she tweeted: “The president of the United States has betrayed our country … he is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”
Less than a week later she tweeted: “The president is a corrupt human tornado”.
Trump hit back on October 8 by goading her. “I think that Crooked Hillary should enter the race and steal it away from Uber Left Elizabeth Warren. Only one condition. The Crooked one must explain all her high crimes and misdemeanours including how & why she deleted 33,000 emails.” Clinton shot back her reply: “Don’t tempt me. Do your job.”
At about the same time, she said in an interview that maybe there should be a “rematch” between her and Trump because “obviously, I can beat him again”.
Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown then poured fuel on the idea with an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle in which he wrote: “It’s time for Hillary Clinton to come out of retirement, lace up the gloves and get back in the ring with President Trump for what would be the biggest political rematch ever.”
He said Clinton was “the only candidate short of Barack Obama who has the brains, the battle-tested brawn and the national presence to take out Trump”.
Polls suggest that if Clinton decided to enter the race at this late stage she would instantly join Democratic frontrunners Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, and would be competitive against Trump in an election. A recent Fox News poll put Clinton’s support at 43 per cent compared with 41 per cent for Trump.
Among Democrats, a Harvard Harris poll late last month that canvassed her hypothetical candidacy found she had 18 per cent support, just below Biden at 19 per cent and ahead of Warren at 13 per cent.
Another hypothetical candidate — billionaire Michael Bloomberg — received only 6 per cent in that poll yet is now making preparations to join the race, sensing a weakness in the field and an opportunity for a centrist Democrat.
He is not the only one — former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick also declared his candidacy this week.
The speculation about a late Clinton run is fuelled by the perception that there is no standout Democratic candidate. Biden, the only prominent moderate candidate, has been a largely lacklustre frontrunner whose lead has been slowly slipping.
Behind him are Warren and the socialist Bernie Sanders, both of whose sweeping revolutionary visions of Medicare for all, massive wealth taxes and anti-business regulations would horrify a centrist Democrat such as Clinton.
Clinton’s team is said to be privately dismissive of the Democratic field and believes she would have a genuine shot at the nomination if she ran.
“If she thought she has the best odds of beating Donald Trump, I think she would think about it long and hard,’’ Clinton adviser Philippe Reines said recently.
Bill Maher blasts Hillary Clinton for thinking about joining the race: "She said, 'I say never, never say never. I will certainly tell you I am under enormous pressure from many, many people to think about it' ... Yes, those are called Trump supporters"pic.twitter.com/Yq3oBjYpBH
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 16, 2019
When asked if the Democratic Party had moved too far left for Clinton to come back, Reines said: “Well, look, this is a huge if, but if she would jump in for whatever reason, and the party has moved somewhere that she hasn’t, then she won’t get the votes.”
Former Bill Clinton adviser Dick Morris believes Hillary Clinton’s reluctance to announce her candidacy is linked to a sense that it’s Biden’s turn to have first shot at the prize.
“My feeling is she wants to,” Morris says. “But she’s hesitant because she realises the timing is bad. She’s got to wait until Biden drops out because he’s obviously next in line for it, and if he goes away there’s an opening for her.” Morris says Clinton would be a natural moderate replacement for Biden if his campaign falters early. “Make no mistake, she wants it,” he says. “She’s planning on it. She’ll do everything she can to achieve it.”
Clinton has also been vocal in her scepticism about the party’s populist wing and the big-spending policies it espouses such as Medicare for all, including undocumented immigrants.
While avoiding direct criticism of Warren or Sanders, Clinton said this month that she did not believe their sweeping healthcare plans would ever get passed into law. “The smarter approach,” she said, “is to build on what we have” by adding a public healthcare plan option to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
It was a special honor to talk about women, power, and breaking down barriers with someone who knows all about it. 💪 https://t.co/dXEhy1SLno
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 14, 2019
“I would like us to return to a presidency where we don’t have to wake up every day worried,” Clinton said. “I’d like us to get back to sort of boring, normal times.”
Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry, says he doesn’t see why Clinton would run at this late stage. “It would be very late and very divisive. I am dubious that she would win the nomination, so why would she do that to herself?” he told The Guardian.
“She had the election taken from her in 2016. I don’t think she ran a very good campaign but she would have won anyway if it was not for (then FBI director) James Comey and Russia. So there are people who feel it would only be just if she got a second bite at the apple. On the other hand, there are a lot of Democratic voters saying ‘let’s move on’.”
"Has the President committed offenses, and planned, and directed, and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate? That's the question. We know that. We know the question. We should now forthwith proceed to answer the question."—Barbara Jordan, 1974 pic.twitter.com/4h1L7yq3Ol
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 13, 2019
That sentiment is not only confined to Democratic voters. Many Democratic senators, while still holding Clinton in high regard, have expressed scepticism about her running again.
“She’s done a great service to our country and public service, and I supported her wholeheartedly, but I believe it’s time for another nominee,” Senate minority whip Dick Durbin said.
Senator Jon Tester said: “I don’t think it would be good for her. She’s been through this war once. The Republicans have made a target out of her for 30 years and she’s still going to (be) that same target. I just think it would be tough.”
If Clinton were to enter the race, her late timing would mean she would miss registration for the first two primaries, in Iowa and New Hampshire, in February. This means she would have to come from behind to take the nomination, a challenge that is difficult but not impossible.
“The field is somewhat set,” says Alabama Democratic senator Doug Jones, one of those who doesn’t want to see a Hillary comeback. “I think we need to move forward.”
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia.