Politics

Show This "Handy Chart" to Anyone Who Is Confused About This Election

October 18th 2016

A snarky tweet featuring a "handy chart" written on a post-it note explaining this year's presidential election is going viral, while raising some solid points and important questions about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.

The Tweet

Twitter user OhNoSheTwitnt tweeted the following, which, as of writing, has over 1,000 retweetes and 4,000 likes:

The "handy chart" is a sarcastic way of saying that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's attempts to bring Bill Clinton's past indiscretions into the conversation as a way to deflect criticism of his own behavior toward women aren't valid, because Bill Clinton isn't running for president.

Hillary Clinton is, and Hillary presumably shouldn't be judged based on the actions of her husband, despite what Trump and his wife Melania insist.

Twitter users responded to the chart with a mixture of praise and agreement...

...and dissent.

Let's talk about Bill Clinton.

When Trump's Access Hollywood tape leaked, one of his first defenses was to assert that former President Bill Clinton has said and done worse things. Trump's initial statement read:

"This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."

But many were quick to point out that whatever Bill Clinton may or may not have said on a golf course is irrelevant, as Bill Clinton is not currently running for president — hence the whole point of the above "chart." Hillary Clinton is.

So Trump shifted his focus to Hillary in a video statement:

"[...] I've said some foolish things but there's a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his victims."

Trump is referring to women like Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick who have publicly accused former President Clinton of sexual harassment and sexual assault, respectively.

However, while the former Secretary of State has stood by her husband throughout the various accusations of infidelity and even rape, it remains a matter of debate as to whether she attempted to intimidate witnesses, as Trump has suggested.

Both Broaddrick and Wiley have suggested that Hillary Clinton herself or members of the Clinton team tried to silence them after they went public with accusations, but those accusations have never been confirmed.

Per CNN's Steven A. Holmes and Lisa Rose:

Broaddrick's example of intimidation is open to interpretation, and is weakened by her answer to NBC that no one "near Bill Clinton" had tried to intimidate her. Willey is not able to link the incidents that occurred directly or indirectly to Hillary Clinton. The comments Clinton made about Lewinsky were spoken in private to a close confidante. And Paula Jones has not pointed to a specific attack.

Still, Hillary Clinton is in a tricky situation. She has tweeted that sexual assault victims deserve to, not only be heard, but also believed:

Which means that she cannot outright dismiss Broaddrick's allegations — and she hasn't. At a campaign event in 2015, an unidentified woman in the audience asked Hillary,

"You say that all rape victims should be believed, but would you say that about Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones? Should we believe them as well?"

To which Hillary responded,

"Well, I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieved on evidence."

If Trump's goal was to create a distraction from his own sexual assault allegations, it may have worked. Still, the important thing to remember is that it is Hillary Clinton's name on the ballot, not Bill's.

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