Mr. Trump sees in the people behind him a party of just regular folk, just like the Democrat Party represented when Peggy Noonan was a young woman, she reminds us. Bloomberg’s Joshua Green recently asked Mr. Trump what the party would look like in five or ten or so years. Replied Mr. Trump, “Love the question. … You’re going to have a worker’s party. A party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years.”
For many of us observing D.C., Washington is a decadent system that needs to go. Peggy Noonan, in the WSJ, gives one famous example:
A high official in the IRS named Lois Lerner targets those she finds politically hateful. IRS officials are in the White House a lot, which oddly enough finds the same people hateful. News of the IRS targeting is about to break because an inspector general is on the case, so Ms. Lerner plants a question at a conference, answers with a rehearsed lie, tries to pin the scandal on workers in a cubicle farm in Cincinnati, lies some more, gets called into Congress, takes the Fifth—and then retires with full pension and benefits, bonuses intact.
Taxpayers will be footing the bill for years for the woman who in some cases targeted them, and blew up the reputation of the IRS.
Why wouldn’t Americans think the system is rigged?
Which brings us back to Hillary Clinton and the State Department Office of Inspector General’s report involving Mrs. Clinton’s emails. Ms. Noonan continues:
It reveals one big thing: Almost everything she (Hillary) has said publicly about her private server was a lie. She lied brazenly, coolly, as one who is practiced in lying would, as one who always gets away with it could.
No, she was not given legal approval to conduct her business on the server. She was not given the impression it was fine. She did not comply with rules on storage and archiving. Her own office told U.S. diplomats personal email accounts could be compromised and they must avoid using them for official business. She was informed of a dramatic increase in hacking attempts on personal accounts. Professionals who raised concerns about her private server were told not to speak of it again.
It is widely assumed that Mrs. Clinton will pay no price for misbehavior because the Democratic president’s Justice Department is not going to proceed with charges against the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
The WSJ’s Kimberely Strassel nails it:
This is a politician (Hillary Clinton) utterly defined by scandal, and with more baggage than the carousels at Dulles International. She ought to be disqualified. And yet the Clintons thrive, the beneficiaries of forgetfulness. They’ve spent decades bulling through their messes, blaming their woes on right-wing plots, and depending on a fickle press and a busy nation to lose interest in their wretchedness. It works every time.
There is civic decadence that most voters want to see blown up. “And,” notes Ms. Noonan, “there’s this orange-colored bomb . . .”
Welcome Donald Trump, who observed, “[W)ether it’s Whitewater or whether it’s Vince or whether it’s Benghazi. It’s always a mess with Hillary.”
More on Hillary’s messes here:
Debbie Young
Latest posts by Debbie Young (see all)
- Wow. It’s a Grim America out There - January 17, 2020
- Why People Hate the Press - January 17, 2020
- The Creepiness of Pelosi’s Impeachment Signing Ceremony - January 17, 2020
