Hillary Clinton: 'Our Democracy Is in Crisis'

She says Trump is as bad as she feared
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 17, 2018 3:58 AM CDT
Hillary Clinton: 'Our Democracy Is in Crisis'
Hillary Clinton attends the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at Greater Grace Temple, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Detroit.   (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

After President Trump's election victory in 2016, "I hoped that my fears for our future were overblown," Hillary Clinton writes in a blistering essay in the Atlantic. "They were not." In the essay, Clinton slams the "unspeakable" and "monstrous" actions of Trump's administration, including the separation of migrant children from their families, and warns that "our democracy is in crisis." She cites Trump's "assault on the rule of law," his "breathtaking corruption," and his "war on truth and reason." She accuses him of undermining the "national unity that makes democracy possible," and warns that the legitimacy of American elections is in doubt amid voter suppression and Trump's "complete unwillingness" to deal with Russian interference.

But the "assault on our democracy" didn’t start with Trump, Clinton writes. "He is as much a symptom as a cause of what ails us." She blames "unregulated, predatory capitalism," political "hyperpolarization," and right-wing billionaires like the Koch brothers, who "spent a lot of time and money building an alternative reality where ... lies masquerade as truth." "We must do all we can to save our democracy and heal our body politic," starting with the midterm elections, she writes. She calls for "serious housecleaning," including, unsurprisingly, the abolition of the Electoral College. "After Watergate, Congress passed a whole slew of reforms in response to Richard Nixon’s abuses of power," she writes. "After Trump, we’re going to need a similar process." Click for the full essay. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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