What would happen if Hillary were to loudly and often start to voice how she was cheated, which she

[monmouth4]

was, in this election? As each day goes by it is becoming more and more apparent that trump is illegitimate and she was truly the legitimate winner of the election. I know there is nothing in the Constitution to address this but maybe it's time some amendments were made. Hillary's silence on this is not helpful IMO..

[Vinca]

1. I think Hillary and President Obama are both playing it smart by remaining mostly silent.

There should be no distractions from the goal of taking down the crime family. Once it's done, they should both stay in the spotlight to make sure everyone knows it was Republicans that caused this to happen to the country.

[zipplewrath]

6. Yup

Don't wanna give the impression that the purpose of the investigation is to put her in power. And mostly she'd just come off as a "sore loser". There is no way for her to be put into power at this point so wasting effort on it would be pointless.

[Jimbo101]

19. Agreed !

[tblue37]

2. Almost everyone, including too many Democrats, would tell her to shut up and go away--

which is EXACTLY what has happened every time she has commented on the election.

Pundits, journalists, people in important positions in the Democratic Party, including elected officials.

And even some people here on DU.

[Squinch]

7. Horrifyingly, yes.

[NastyRiffraff]

13. Yep

Sadly true. And TOO MANY people here on DU.

[Me.]

27. Yep

[MichMary]

3. She would look like a whining sore loser,

and completely marginalize herself. No one likes a sore loser.

[WillowTree]

34. This

[LonePirate]

4. Unfortunately, it would only strengthen the resolve of those on the right.

Understandably, she would have a desire to vent about all of this. If she does, we will be arguing 2016 again instead of focusing on 45's treasonous actions.

[samnsara]

5. I too wish she would but it would just be called sour grapes... I do wish..

...she and all the other power players ( PBO, Biden, Michele, et al) would make more public appearances. I would sure feel safe if I knew they were still in the country and believed in it. I need to hear their inspiring words once in awhile.

[MineralMan]

8. Nothing of any value would happen.

As for the amendments you mention, though, do you understand the process of amending the Constitution and the role Congress plays in that? The state legislatures? Do you know which party has majorities in both?

Forget Hillary Clinton. She took her shot. She won't do that again. Forget Bernie Sanders, too. He hasn't a prayer of being the 2020 nominee. We don't know who that will be yet, but it probably won't be anyone you're thinking about.

Here's an idea: Get busy on the 2018 elections, starting today. That's something useful we can all do. Look forward to the next opportunity, not back at a missed opportunity.

[monmouth4]

9. I admit I concur with all of your opinions, it's just sad. If this had happened to repub candidate,

you can bet there would be screaming from the rooftops.

[Caliman73]

17. True, but rest assured that it would not happen to a Republican candidate.

I am not saying the that Democratic Party is perfect in any way, shape, or form, but just that Democrats as a core belief, think that government is a tool for the most good for the most people. We rely on that, and the policies we make to bring that about to connect with voters. It has taken Republicans 40+ years of dirty tactics and relentless, coordinated attacks against institutions of government to get where we are. While individuals in the Democratic Party may run afoul personally or the idea that government is for all and for the good of all, by engaging in scandal and enriching themselves (ala congressman Jefferson or governor Blagojevich) but the party seems to stand for ethical government.

It seems from their behavior, that at minimum, the leadership of the Republican Party has no such principles and their primary motivator is consolidating power and privatizing the commons to free up money for the wealthiest to access. Trump is just the most up front and cartoonishly visible representation of this seemingly core belief.

[Lee-Lee]

10. She would be marginalized and lose credibility

Every right winger would dig up her tweets and statements made toward t-Rump during the primary mocking him for saying it was rigged among other attacks.

[yallerdawg]

11. The cheat is inherent in our antiquated Constitutional Electoral College System.

If we had a national democratic popular vote majority-rule presidential election every four years, we wouldn't have had a Bush or a Trump.

It would be a different world.

Then, decent, helpful, generous programs to help the less fortunate would generate local popularity of the Democratic Party, and we would effectively be moving to a 'center-left' vs 'left' political battlefield.

That would be a battle most of America would like to see!

All we have to do is pass an amendment.

Guess what? Does this country look like it's ready to THAT?

[dawnie51]

12. She would be shredded.....

whiner, poor loser, nagging bitch, etc. etc. etc. It is pointless to say a word, which would only fuel the knuckledraggers. The picture is becoming clearer and clearer, and she doesn't have to say a word. I believe she will have her revenge.

[ismnotwasm]

14. People would tell to go take care of her grand babies

Or something equally and more obnoxious and sexist.

[Caliman73]

15. Public Opinion would turn on her quickly

Silence is not consent in this matter. Silence is a strategy. If you go out harping on how you were "cheated" without clear indication of wrong doing, and by clear I mean, convictions in a court of law clear, then you are setting yourself up as just being a sore loser. I agree with the other posters who said that Hillary and Obama are playing the cards they have on this. Hillary is on the periphery, talking about issues, including the election, and Obama is back to work trying to strengthen the Democratic Party. She will be in a position to make serious trouble for Trump and the GOP as the evidence becomes more clear.

As for amendments to the Constitution, it require approval of a proposal by 2/3rds of Both houses of Congress or by 2/3rds of the State legislatures in the country. Then it requires ratification by 3/4 of the State legislatures. Right now Republicans have control of the House by 47 votes and the Senate by 4 seats, 6 if you don't count the independent Senators who tend to caucus with Democrats. No amendments will be proposed in this current legislature. If by some miracle they did get proposed and passed, the would need 38 of the 50 states (of which Republicans fully control 31).

We, who support Hillary and the Democratic Party, have a very good sense, and there is some evidence suggesting that the election was illegitimate, but we do not have the kind of proof that is required to drop a legal and political bombshell of this proportion. Clinton, Obama, and the Democrats are doing what they should be doing, which is calling for allowing investigations to continue, and waiting until sufficient evidence is presented. There is only one shot as something as big as calling out an administration for election fraud and conspiring with a foreign power to subvert democracy.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. Trump would try to jail her

Or worse.

[loyalsister]

18. She would come off as an undignified sore loser

Al Gore and John Kerry showed dignity in going about their business rather than making the next presidency about them.

[DrDan]

20. of course not . . .

[marybourg]

21. "Laugh and the world

laughs with you; cry and you cry alone". Old Yiddish expression courtesy of My Mom

[karynnj]

22. It is not fair to say that Hillary's silence is not helpful

While there is plenty to criticize in the election, it is not the first election where there was voter suppression, tremendous money behind lies against the candidate and a VERY close election in terms of the electoral college. It is really incumbent on BOTH parties to really fight to have a real bipartisan committee to completely clean up our voting process. ... and no, the blatantly biased effort led by Kobach,which includes Ken Blackwell, who was both the Bush/Cheney Ohio chair and the Ohio SoS in 2004, is not what is needed.

Some time in the early 2000s, Jimmy Carter, who monitors elections around the world and has international respect on this issue was asked if his center could monitor a US election. His response was that the way it was run violated the basic standards he insisted on world wide. I KNOW Jimmy Carter is 92, but I think he needs to be paired with a respected Republican (Lugar?) to head a committee that could monitor completely cleaning up the process.

Fixing the way we vote is a better remedy than any amendment that could change the result of the vote. Think of the down side - where a legitimate victory by the party that does not control Congress (as could have happened in 2016) might be challenged. Not to mention, If Trump colluded with Russia, he should be removed. However, following the Constitution, his party stays in power. Republicans would argue that this is fair, because you can't PROVE that without that (assumed) collusion, HRC and Kaine would have won.

So far, we do not know any votes even any voters' listing in the voters roll were changed. It is actually easier to prove that the email/Comey had a big impact -- and could have cost the election -- then the Wikileaks/DNC/Podesta stuff. In 2000, we now know if all the FL votes were recounted, Gore would have won. In 2004, like 2016, we do not have anything that clear cut. We KNOW that Ohio suppressed the innercity vote by giving them too few voting machines leading to 4 plus hour lines - in pouring rain. If everyone had the same easy time voting as I did in a Republican NJ county, Kerry likely would have won, but you can not prove that. Not to mention, a new word entered the language - swiftboating.

Back to Hillary, because she was the one who lost - just as Kerry and Gore did - she can't lead the call that she was cheated because it will seen as not living up to the US standard of peaceful transfer of power. What she can do is back an effort to get the US voting process up to standards we demand that third world countries meet.

[StevieM]

28. Never before has the FBI intervened like this to destroy a candidate.

Their actions were illegitimate.

Had Comey not sent that letter to Congress Hillary would have won. Decisively.

[karynnj]

29. Never before had a candidate had the State Department IG and the Intelligence Community IG

appointed by an administration of the nominee's own party recommended and investigation and investigated themselves. Hillary's numbers on honest and trustworthy sank as she dealt poorly with the issue of her emails before the FBI started to investigate. Much of the damage was done by June 2015. (In March 2015, we learned that she used a private server and left the State Department without the emails they needed to produce for Congress and FOIA. The State Department "negotiated" with HRC to get them returned in late 2014.)

Bill Clinton, privately meeting with the AG as that investigation was nearing its end made things worse - as it compromised Lynch. It directly led to Lynch saying she would accept the FBI's recommendation - leading to Comey announcing the findings rather than simply reporting them to the AG to announce. That led to Comey being called before Congress and promising to report if anything changed.

I think Comey erred in sending that letter to Congress, where it was promptly and predictably leaked. At minimum, he should have prioritized getting computer experts to quickly extract any new emails and (given how few there ended up being) checking them out. All without a word to Congress. Had there been any bombshell, he would still have been able to get it out before the election - eliminating any reason to favor the path he took.

Clinton knew that there was nothing wrong in the emails. There were requests for them in her last year as Secretary of State. All she had to do was to leave the work email with the State Department when she left. As it was, the House and Senate BOTH asked about the email requests every time Kerry or an under secretary came to Congress. This was an untenable situation - and it blew up in her face. The most galling thing was that there was not anything she had to cover up! Both Congressional oversight and FOIA - even by people we do not like - are important to an open, transparent government.

It is absolutely terrible that a well qualified, intelligent public servant lost this election because of the series of her email decisions that led to this. That it allowed an unqualified sociopath to win makes this even worse. While it is fair to blame Comey's letter, none of this would have happened had Hillary Clinton not made a terrible choice on her emails. Also blame Bill Clinton's inexplicable action or even the leaders of the Democratic party for not quickly understanding how badly this was hurting her.

[StevieM]

30. They didn't say that they had evidence that HRC may have committed crimes.

And I think they made a mistake by asking the FBI to get involved.

In any event, the matter was resolved. Comey did not have to send that letter to Congress. He his the truth about the Trump investigation while allowing the GOP a vehicle with which to lie to the American people.

[karynnj]

32. They included the top law enforcement people in the US Government

Starting with the relevant IGs, then the AG, and the FBI. Note that ALL four are supposed to independent even of the President. There were POTENTIAL legal issues or that would not have happened. Consider that all four were appointed by Obama.

The conclusion was that Comey said that no prosecutor would ask for an indictment, but he did say that the handling of classified information was careless. The FBI was looking JUST at the issue of classified information. The issue of honoring FOIA requests is not a criminal issue. If a suit is won, the organization is required to turn over the documents - redacted as warranted.

[Generic Other]

23. The right would jump for joy

They try to call Clinton and Obama out every day. I suspect it drives them not to get a response. Bullies need an audience, and easy prey. They are having a hard time coming up with new liberals to target. They spent all those years villifying a woman who has dropped out of the political fray leaving them lost with no sense of who to direct their hatred against.

[Orrex]

24. The focus would shift 100% to Clinton if she did that

It would bolster Trump's popularity and would seriously damage the Democratic bid for 2018.

Once Clinton cried "foul" in this way, the GOP would run with it and would keep it front-and-center for the next four years at least. They would open a whole new series of bullshit investigations and hearings, and it would make them look stronger for the midterm elections.


Clinton is right to remain relatively silent about it.

[LaydeeBug]

25. There *IS* something in the Constitution to address this...WE THE PEOPLE.

We don't get *end run* by espionage.

WE THE PEOPLE.

This was an act of war.

WE THE PEOPLE .

People committed TREASON. They don't get to retain power when that happens. Starighten your back, and tell the God damned truth.

[DUgosh]

33. I agree

It is our duty to scream on her behalf

[nolabear]

26. The right would band tighter together. We need to let the current bunch to hang themselves.

I know there are vast numbers who really wouldn't care if he shot someone on 5th Ave but there are some who are becoming embarrassed and appalled, and the left is becoming more vociferous about these abuses.

She and Obama are doing fine working behind the scenes.

[NCTraveler]

31. We are moving closer to primary season with a very unpopular President.

As usual, Clinton will not make this about self-importance. She fully understands the concept of power in numbers. We need numbers for change and Clinton regularly talking about how she was cheated won't give us that. Her platform positions, access to deep pockets, and email lists and relationships will. It's not about her keeping her powder dry. It's about using the proper ammunition.

At the same time I would respect her decision if we never heard from her again. I just don't think that is in her.

[SaschaHM]

35. I'd make a killing off of kindling wood...

The right and certain folks on the left would start up an inquisition.

I wrote in another post that we do need a constitutional amendment that nullifies presidential succession, the prior election, and judicial appointments when an election is found to be criminally tainted by the winning party resulting in the resignation/removal of the president. Otherwise, there's no incentive not to cheat the system. What we need to start doing is putting pressure on Gorsuch to resign if Trump resigns or is removed from office because of this probe.