In their first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton proudly showed off her intellectual prowess by presenting an impeccable piece of logic. “For forty years everyone running for president has released their tax returns.” She was right. That fact is indisputable. Therefore, the fact that Donald Trump had not, must perforce mean that, “It must be something really important, even terrible, that he’s trying to hide.”
A solid argument. Unassailable. Watertight.
Well done Hillary on your (election campaign team’s) masterstroke.
Let’s dwell on the principle she is presenting for a moment: If you’re not open about something then you must have something to hide.
It’s good isn’t it.
I mean there are ways around it, you could come up with a reason why you should not be transparent, but it wouldn’t be a position you would want to take unless you really had to. The important thing to keep in mind is that she is presenting this as an argument that is so compelling in her opinion that no one including her has any choice but to categorically accept it.
I’ll repeat the principle one more time. This time see if anything clicks. Remember she did say this during her presidential campaign: If you’re not open about something then you must have something to hide.
Anybody see where I’m going with this?
Didn’t she delete, no worse, bleach her emails? Well let’s apply the above principle to that. And deliciously her principle, not necessarily agreed to by everyone, not necessarily without some way around it, but certainly accepted by her. Wouldn’t that mean, according to a principle she wholeheartedly accepts, that she must have something really important, even terrible to hide?
Yes.
Have you ever seen or heard anything so staggeringly stupid? What kind of monumental halfwit with an extreme lack of self-awareness must you be to go on national television and during a live debate that’s watched by tens of millions of people, present a principle that you think is a huge blow to your political opponent, but which also completely incriminates yourself?
Aren’t you relieved that someone like that, is not President of the United States of America.
Or in any position of power.
Anymore.