New York Post

WHERE ARE ‘NEVER HILLARY’ DEMS?

- MARC A. THIESSEN

DOZENS of notable Republican­s have said that they will not vote for Donald Trump, including at least six Republican senators, two Republican governors, the 2012 GOP presidenti­al nominee and a group of 50 former national-security officials who served Republican presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, among others.

So where are the #NeverHilla­ry Democrats?

Hillary Clinton has lied to the American people so frequently that multiple polls now show almost seven in 10 of our fellow citizens say she isn’t honest or trustworth­y, while only 11 percent say she is, according to an NBC News/SurveyMonk­ey poll. Fifty-six percent believe Clinton should have been charged with a crime in the FBI investigat­ion of her use of a private e-mail server. And 60 percent say Clinton believes she doesn’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else. They’re right. Every day, more evidence emerges that Clinton is morally unfit to occupy the Oval Office. But so far, no leading Democrats have come out and said they will not vote for her.

Democrats are clearly worried about the optics of the Clinton scandals. That’s why the Clinton Foundation announced it will no longer accept donations from corporatio­ns or foreign entities if Clinton is elected president.

But where are the senior Democrats asking why it’s wrong to take such donations if she becomes president, but it wasn’t wrong to take millions from corporate and foreign donors when she was secretary of state? Where are the Democrats asking why the Clinton Foundation should continue to rack up such donations right up until Election Day? You won’t find them.

Politico reports Democrats are “dismayed by the timing of the three-day [Clinton Global Initiative] conference Sept. 19-21 — a week before the first national debate and seven weeks before Election Day.”

For Democrats, the Clinton Foundation is a p.r. problem, not an ethics problem.

Indeed, it’s hard to find any senior Democrats who are even publicly conflicted about her. House Speaker Paul Ryan famously took weeks after Trump secured the GOP nomination before finally agreeing to support him, telling reporters “I’m not there yet.” Has any leading Democrat of Ryan’s stature said “I’m not there yet” when it comes to supporting Clinton?

The hypocrisy is particular­ly rank, because Democrats have made taking on Wall Street special interests and the pay-to-play culture in Washington a centerpiec­e of their political agenda.

Now they have a kleptocrat­ic nominee who epitomizes everything they claim to oppose — and they seem to be completely fine with it.

Where’s the Democrats’ outrage over the deal then-Secretary Clinton cut with the Swiss bank UBS, which let tens of thousands of tax-dodging Americans off the hook, while the Clinton Foundation got a cumulative $600,000 in UBS donations and Bill Clinton got $1.5 million for Q&A sessions, which The Wall Street Journal reports made UBS “his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House.”

In June, Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “Do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state and a foundation run by her husband collects many, many dollars from foreign government­s — government­s which are dictatorsh­ips? Yeah, I do have a problem with that.” Apparently not that big of a problem. He’s now supporting Clinton unreserved­ly.

Or take Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted that “Government should be accountabl­e to the people, not Wall Street lobbyists, deep-pocketed donors” on the very same day she endorsed Clinton for president. Talk about a lack of moral courage.

So when you hear Democrats talk about how billionair­es and special interests have “rigged the system,” remember that they supported a nominee whose foundation took billions from those special interests.

When you hear Democrats talk about gay rights and women’s rights, remember that they supported a nominee whose foundation took tens of millions from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and other countries that openly persecute gays and deny equality to women.

As Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has said of Trump, “I can’t support someone that I don’t think would take the oath of office in good faith.” Will even one Democrat stand up and say the same of Clinton?

Don’t hold your breath.

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