Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
First Hillary, then a dragon
The great hunt has changed targets
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” — Anonymous
Consider how to repair the damage done by 25 years of Hillary hunting — not to Clinton, but to the Republican Party. For a quarter century, Republicans believed the next scandal would end Clinton’s career. Even the appearance of one more would do. They were right. The nonstop investigation of everything Clinton did or didn’t do has made her unelectable — by any normal standard.
Clinton fans contend this pursuit is a sustained act of character assassination. Even if that’s so, the pummeling worked. Clinton is the most unpopular major party nominee for president of my lifetime — except for one, who won the GOP primary by bringing all that frustration and anger to life.
A novice bomb- thrower such as Donald Trump could never have been nominated if Republicans respected their opposition. There were other factors, but looming large was the GOP’s ability to convince itself anyone could beat Clinton even if she wasn’t indicted first.
There’s an old saying that the first step toward defeat is contempt for your enemy. The chant of this year’s GOP convention — “Lock her up!” — wasn’t a step. It was a flying leap. Trump may still win this thing, but Republicans should, by now, instead be marching into the White House in a parade.
The correct response to a sincere belief that Clinton should be in prison instead of the White House would have been shock and dismay — followed by nomination of the best candidate available. Some might argue the GOP did that. Allow me to quote the best pundit in the country, Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report: “A fairly innocuous Republican like John Kasich would likely beat Clinton like a rented mule.”
The faction that nominated Trump doesn’t want the GOP to win. It wants Clinton to lose. After 25 years of hunting, it wants blood and meat. The hounds took over the hunt, and turned and snapped at hunters who tried to take back control. And the deer that was cornered is getting away.
Every person who warned over the past 25 years that there ought to be limits — who implied, for instance, that calling the president a Muslim Kenyan traitor to the nation might ought to be disavowed — is being vindicated.
The “vast right-wing conspiracy” was a puny thing back in 1998, when Clinton first ranted about it. Then it was fed. Then it grew. Then, still hungry, it swallowed up the Republican Party. To listen to members of the GOP’s “Freedom Caucus” and to read Breitbart News, even most Republicans are traitors and sell-outs. Fox News’ Sean Hannity has put “establishment” Republicans on notice that it’s their fault if Trump loses.
Now Trump’s campaign “CEO” is the guy who runs Breitbart News. Another campaign adviser is the former head of Fox News. The nominee snaps his jaws and growls more than any of them. Put another way, the “conspiracy” is a dragon summoned to destroy the Clintons. It has swallowed its summoner instead.
Clinton is now poised to slay this dragon, barring some amazing turnaround. “Relish” is probably too strong a word, but Clinton must be looking forward to this. This is personal. She wants to kill that dragon and then, like Siegfried in the Richard Wagner opera, bathe in its blood.
The most bizarre turn in this opera is that Clinton may rescue the Republican Party, which is still very much alive inside the dragon.
The GOP owns much of Congress and almost all statehouses. Except for the chaos at the top, the party has never been stronger — assuming somebody can get a grip on the reins. No one could get a grip quite like a popular Republican presidential prospect. All the Republicans need is a credible leader. They can’t have one, though, until the dragon is slain.
Only one person is in a pit, holding her sword while waiting for Fafnir, the dragon, to walk over so she can slit his belly: Hillary Clinton.
I’ve never pictured the former secretary of state in one of those Valkyrie helmets before, but I’ll bet she’d wear one well. Also note that in those operas, the gods cannot be saved by one of their own or by anyone who has received the gods’ blessings, such as a king. They can only be saved by someone who, like Siegfried, owes them nothing. Hillary Clinton certainly fits that bill.
Doug Thompson is a political reporter and columnist for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He can be reached by email at dthompson@nwadg.com. Follow him on Twitter @NWADoug.