Was 2016 the Most Corrupt Election in US History?

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI’m old enough to have seen history get rewritten multiple times. We go through periods where some topics are acceptable to discuss, and others must be hidden away. The older I get, the less inclined I am to play those games.If the facts don’t fit the narrative then there’s something wrong with the narrative, not the facts.For example, I remember 9/11. In the immediate aftermath, there was plenty of speculation about the missteps that contributed to that event. On radio talk shows, people were willing to discuss how the CIA had deliberately trained terrorist groups abroad as a form of cheap warfare against uncooperative governments.When the actions of our agencies result in attacks on our country, it’s called “blowback.” They have a name for it. You’d think this consequence would lead to demands to discard our most unscrupulous strategies. However, our leaders know they can always pivot to a narrative of extreme patriotism to sway public opinion. Responsible people who continue asking serious questions are discredited or treated with hostility.I think again of Ignaz Semmelweis. Born in 1818, he became a respected doctor in his time. He proposed that the infant mortality rate could be reduced if doctors simply washed their hands between deliveries. For his troubles, he was committed to a mental asylum where he was beaten to death. This is yet another instance of people rejecting the facts that challenged their accepted narrative.History is full of such examples.Today, Barack Obama is often and rightfully referred to as the greatest modern president. If you were to scroll through social media, you might get the impression that he was always embraced by the Democratic party.But I was there. I saw how he was treated when he decided to run for president. I remember.The DNC didn’t want him.The truth is that every single argument that the establishment is currently deploying against DSA candidates was once used against Obama. “He’s ‘unelectable’” they said. “Americans won’t vote for a Black man.” “Americans won’t vote for a person with that name.” “There are ‘safer’ candidates.” “This election is too important to risk, we should run somebody else.”And yes, as always, they had someone in mind. Historically, the DNC hasn’t trusted the people to select the people to lead the party. They don’t think we’re “educated” enough to make a good decision.In 2008, we were coming off the unmitigated disaster of the Bush presidency. The country was in economic freefall as it always is after Republicans get power. As always, the establishment Democrats had done nothing in the way of resistance, and they were licking their lips at the prospect of an easy presidential win. They felt it was their “entitlement.”The trouble is that the DNC operates on seniority instead of merit. The moment Obama threw his name in the hat, there was grumbling. They considered him an “upstart” who was attempting to jump ahead of the line. The majority of the corporate Democrats preferred their anointed candidate: Hillary Clinton.These days, it’s common to see memes of Hillary and Barack sitting together laughing about something the Republicans have done. You often see social media flooded with the “She was right about everything” content. These are examples of how power in the United States uses the media to rewrite history.But I was there. I remember the contemptuous way Hillary spoke about Obama. There was a particular comment that stuck with me because it was so odd. During the primaries, she was angry that Obama was steadily gaining momentum and she remarked, “If we used the system of the Republicans, I’d already be the nominee.”I hadn’t formulated much of an opinion on Hillary at the time, but I thought, “Why did she admit that? It’s like acknowledging her strategy wasn’t built for the competition she entered.”Meanwhile, young and brilliant Barack Obama had taken advantage of fledgling social media. He was getting out the vote with a promise of a progressive movement, that, unfortunately never came to pass. I expect that once he got into office, he encountered headwinds of a strength and origin he didn’t anticipate. We’ve seen that happen before as well. To put it more clearly, the DNC has a history of rejecting popular candidates and popular policies.Look around.When it became clear that Obama was going to win the nomination, Hillary had to be placated. Again, even in the most recent election cycle, we’re seeing corporate democrats who are unwilling to rally around progressive leaning candidates who win primaries. I know, people are going to say, “But Obama was a moderate, he was never progressive.” There’s truth to that statement, but it’s also true that much of his support came from the hope that he’d be progressive.We were all so hopeful! Finally, we had a president who’d use the power of the office to help the people! He had a 60 seat senate majority for the first two years of his presidency, and yet forces within the corporate Democrats managed to keep their foot on the brakes to prevent generational change.While we were watching Obama, it was easy to dismiss the concern that some sort of deal must have been offered to Hillary to earn her support. But at the end of Obama’s second term, everybody knew that Hillary was running. In the early days, she was coy about the campaign, but there was something off about her press appearances. She kept laughing and refusing to admit that she was going to run, but nobody truly believed that wasn’t her ambition.She was trying to create a narrative that we were begging her to run against her will.I want you to pause for a moment and consider Hillary Clinton as a candidate. When it comes to Obama and even Biden, we can recall great speeches. Yes, I know Biden’s ability to command a room has largely been overshadowed by the poor debate that ultimately ruined his political career. But even in his later years, he managed to craft some memorable moments. Consider the State of the Union address when he tricked the hostile Republican contingent into agreeing on no cuts to Social Security.Now, can you think of a moment when Hillary Clinton has ever given an inspirational speech? When it comes to Hillary, the only two phrases I remember are “basketful of deplorables” and “get over yourself.”She never came close to the joy and enthusiasm of the Kamala campaign. You might have noticed this before, except for this coordinated effort on the media to recreate Hillary Clinton as something she never was.On top of that, the corporate Democrats have long run on the motto that in order for them to win, they had to appeal to the “center.” That meant running candidates that would convince moderate Republicans to switch parties.But I’ve lived most of my life in rural, conservative areas. One thing I can tell you that’s an irrefutable fact is that Republicans hate Hillary Clinton. The only person they hate more than Hillary Clinton is Nancy Pelosi. If the party trots out Hillary as the nominee, there’s zero chance that you’ll sway moderate Republicans. Zero. Remember, this was all happening during the era of Rush Limbaugh. That odious creature was on the radio twenty-four hours a day planting the seeds for conspiracy theories about rich people who owned private islands where they sex trafficked, tortured, and sometimes ate little girls and even babies.At the time, we dismissed them. When they turned that rage on Hillary, we called them foolish. None of this was a secret to Hillary, and I believe she had a strategy to counter the bad press.When you regard 2016 with the benefit of hindsight, there are a couple possibilities that shouldn’t be dismissed. Hillary Clinton might not be a great orator, but she’s extremely intelligent. If you’re an unpopular candidate, how do you win an election?Well, one solution would be to trick the opposition into running the most odious candidate in history. If it works out, you’d turn the campaign into a layup. But if you were wrong, you’d set the country on the path to dictatorship.Look around.We too often forget that the creature currently occupying the Oval office used to be a Democrat. He used to be one of those big donors. They were friends. There are plenty of pictures of him together with the Clintons.The DNC loves to influence the primaries for both parties. The entitled “gated-community” Democrats have often tried to get cute by supporting extreme Republicans. I remember Mitt Romney criticizing them for that, “You’re playing with fire.”We haven’t just been burned by this strategy, they’ve scorched the whole Earth.Let’s also not ignore the pictures of Bill Clinton partying with Epstein. Do you remember the photo of the two of them in their garish shirts? Two disgusting old men who should be picking their grandkids up from school, who are instead leering at underaged girls.Again, this is a case of a fact that doesn’t fit the established narrative. That picture exists. Epstein island exists. There are many prominent names mentioned in those files. Democrats have managed to covertly support extremist Republicans to try and manipulate races. I’ve been interviewing primary challengers to do-nothing Democrats for a year who have also faced pressure to quit. The Democrats cannot get their finger off the primaries. They threw 60 million dollars at Haley Stevens because they insisted she was “more electable.” You saw it in New York. There was plenty of party support for Cuomo even though he lost the primary and his presence in the race threatened their ability to win the seat.The Democrats play too many games.Once Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy, the DNC instantly began to disrespect the voters. They’ve subsequently changed their primary process, but in 2016 the nominee was largely determined by “superdelegates.” Essentially, this was a group of elites who we were told were smarter and better and superior in every way to the general public. They had superdelegates, they lectured, because the DNC didn’t trust the people to select an “electable” candidate.They were still kind of petulant about the fact that Obama had gotten in. They didn’t appreciate how he’d managed to capitalize on social media to get out the vote, so they dismantled that system. The Republicans saw that misstep and pounced. Since 2016, social media has become a right-wing propaganda tool for fascists. Meanwhile, the Democrats say, “Oh, no!” but they refuse to take any accountability for their mistakes.Because of superdelegates, Hillary Clinton came out of the gate which what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. I remember all kinds of articles explaining what superdelegates were, and lecturing us all to just shut up and accept it because it was “Hillary’s turn.” If there was any whisp of criticism, we were called misogynistic, much the came way you’re accused of antisemitism these days if you object to genocide.We’re not allowed to have respectful conversations.Well, everybody got the memo except Bernie Sanders. He launched his campaign and for a while it looked like 2008 all over again. Hillary became increasingly hostile. I voted for Bernie in the primaries then Hillary in the general. Like everyone else, I was distracted by the threat of the billionaire former Democrat who used to party with the Clintons and Epstein.I said before that I have always been a liberal voice in conservative areas. I saw, first hand, how the actions of the Democratic party drove voters away from Bernie into the open arms of MAGA.“The DNC cheated Bernie,” they said. “I’ll NEVER vote for that party.”I tried to explain to these scorned voters how the Republicans offered a greater risk, but they wouldn’t listen. Hillary didn’t help either. She lambasted Sanders and all the progressives that wouldn’t get in line to support her and instead deserted to the Republicans. This became the corporate line, and at no point does anyone seem to recognize that the DNC is covertly acknowledging that progressive ideas do appeal to Republicans.The DNC claims the only overlap is in the center, but by their very admission we see that the left has great appeal as well.Once the new Republican president was sworn in, things began to emerge. Sanders took the DNC to court and a judge ruled that the party had a right to rig the primaries against him. Then there were the leaked emails that suggested the DNC undercut Sanders. In 2020, there was the disaster in the Iowa presidential primaries where Pete Buttigieg was announced the winner over Sanders despite some questionable counting. Again, if you asked questions about this result, you were labeled as “homophobic.”You’re not allowed to point out the contradictions in the party narrative. When MAGA does that, we say it’s a cult. But it’s just business as usual with the DNC.This has all been a very bad look. The DNC is a party that desperately needs to rebuild trust, but every time it has the opportunity, they’re more willing to attack popular candidates and insult voters than simply embrace a strategy of victory.We’re seeing it now. Prominent Democratic figures and strategists are using dehumanizing language like “turds” and “parasites” to describe DSA candidates. For the first time that I can remember, anti-establishment candidates are pushing through the resistance. Go and watch some of the speeches of Abdul El-Sayed. He’s been openly critical of the DNC which, even though they promise to help us, never seem to remember those promises after they get sworn in.Every time I interview a progressive challenger, I say the same thing. “In 2020, the voters gave the Democrats all the power they needed to stop the rise of authoritarianism, and they didn’t even really try.”I realize that it’s uncomfortable to examine facts that challenge aggressively supported narratives. Nobody likes to be accused of antisemitism or homophobia or racism or misogyny. But if there’s anything the last couple of years have taught us, it’s that the US government is more corrupt than we’d ever believe.Shortly after the 2016 election, an anonymous individual began posting on a 4chan message board about how the government was run by child traffickers and pedophiles that ate children. They went by the handle QAnon.At the time, I dismissed those allegations as an absurd conspiracy theory. But then we got to look at the Epstein files. The QAnon accusations and the Epstein files line up too much to be a coincidence.At this point, I’m done abiding by generally accepted pressure narratives that already blatantly contradict the truths of my lived experience. I have no more patience for media campaigns from either political party that attempt to rewrite the achievements of their odious candidates.Look around, it’s a scorched earth.We’re not going to fix this until we bring the receipts and we start holding every single awful person accountable for their crimes. The events of the 2016 election fill me with disgust. I remember the complete lack of enthusiasm the general public had for either candidate. Yet even today, we see a coordinated media campaign dedicated to staunchly defending the actions of Hillary Clinton.That’s as foolish as wasting 60 million dollars on a candidate you insist is “electable.” Who is paying for that?We are.Maybe it’s time that we started holding Democratic leadership accountable for their failures? Have any of the “gated community” democrats living the high life with their massive portfolios and state funded healthcare, ever offered apologies for losing winnable races? Or are they all still calling us “deplorable” and asking us to “get over ourselves?”I think you know the answer.They’re doing fine. We’re the targets of abuse from our own government. The least they could do is recognize that some of us have suffered terribly in the last decade. We are done putting up with the hubris and entitlement of the elites.We’re done.How about this as a strategy going forward? We listen to the candidates the voters select, and then treat those choices with respect? Stop with the social engineering, and force-feeding us corrupt representatives with lies about their “electability” and “fund-raising.” The narrative has collapsed. It’s time for the elites to get over themselves. It’s time for the people to take back their country.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe