If a fatal share of clueless, oblivious, and feckless swing-state Americans hadn’t skipped the balloting back in 2016, it’s quite likely that a different president – Hillary Clinton – would’ve been bidding us farewell at the 2024 Democratic Convention.
Night One of this national confab was packed with stirring speeches – from Joe Biden (who will be ranked among the great presidents) to next-generation star AOC (who blessed Kamala Harris from the left, and rhetorically blew the doors off) – but it was Hillary who truly seized my attention. I was reminded, yet again, about how prescient she was back in the day. If only her warnings had been heeded, we would’ve been spared four years of MAGA dystopia and red-state governments would not be meddling in women’s personal lives.
She was right in 2016 when she warned that if Trump was elected, he’d function as Vladimir Putin”s “puppet,” that he’d “spout the Putin line,” that he’d try to “break up NATO.” She was right in 2016 when she warned about the MAGA movement’s animosity toward people of color: “Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. It’s a disturbing preview of what kind of president he’d be.” She was right in 2016 when she warned that “the progress that we fought for, that many of you were on the front lines for, may not be as secure as we once expected.”
She was right in 2016 when she warned about the fragile future for women’s reproductive rights: “The fact that our next president could appoint as many as three or four justices in the next four years (demonstrates) that we can’t take (those rights) for granted. (Trump) has pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade…And that’s why this election is so important. The outcome of November’s contests is going to be a deciding factor in whether our elected officials and our courts defend or attack a woman’s right to health care for generations to come.”
She was right in 2016 when she warned that even though “we have free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power,” it was nonetheless crystal clear that Trump’s “final target is democracy itself.”
She was right in 2021 when she said, “There is a plot against the country by people who truly want to turn the clock back. They believe that the progress we’ve made on all kinds of civil rights and human rights, the cultural changes that have taken place, are so deeply threatening that they want to stage a coup.”
She was right in 2022 when she inveighed against the threat of home-grown fascism: “Yes, it can happen here, and time and courage are of the essence…This must be a season of action. Stand up to dictators and demagogues, from the battlefields of Ukraine, to the halls of our own capital. Defend democracy at home, just as vigorously as we do abroad.”
And last night, previewing the sprint to November, she warned that voter apathy is the enemy – as she learned in 2016: “We’ve put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling. Tonight’s so close to breaking through once and for all…We have (Trump) on the run now. So no matter what the polls say, we can’t let up. We can’t get driven down crazy conspiracy rabbit holes. We have to fight for the truth…For the next 78 days, we need to work harder than we ever have. We need to beat back the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to the rule of law and our way of life. Don’t get distracted or complacent…This is when we stand up. This is when we break through! The future is here! It’s in our grasp!”
So. Is a stoked blue electorate finally ready to heed her?