It has now been 271 days since Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton held a press conference.
#HidingHillary is a campaign strategy to prevent Clinton from making public gaffes. By avoiding unscripted questions and public appearances that are not carefully controlled by the campaign, the tactic is designed to allow Clinton’s opponent, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, to hand her the presidency through his own self-inflicted wounds.
#HidingHillary might minimize the risk of mistakes for Clinton, but it bolsters Trump’s ability to set the narrative. Under the leadership of Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign is taking full advantage of #HidingHillary, focusing on Clinton’s many scandals and more recently on Trump’s immigration policy in an attempt to redirect the political conversation.
Recent national polling shows Trump closing the gap or even taking the lead. In states like Michigan, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Maine – states Hillary must win in order to capture the White House – Trump is taking the lead as well.
For the Clinton campaign, another possible downside of the #HidingHillary strategy is that if she reemerges she’ll likely have to answer for all that hiding. If she takes unscripted questions, she’ll likely be asked about the Clinton Foundation, emails, her health, and other alleged scandals which will force those topics back to the top of the public discussion.
In the wake of public scrutiny, Clinton has added two appearances in Hampton, Illinois, and Cleveland, Ohio both on September 5th to her public schedule.
This series will continue to highlight your questions and comments regarding #HidingHillary. If you’d like to be included in the next #HidingHillary column tweet to @DustinStockton and try to include the hashtag #HidingHillary.
Here are some of the best questions/comments we received from Breitbart readers:
@JohnGalt191 sent us this graphic replacing Waldo with Hillary:
@BvilleChas put #HidingHillary on a milk carton hoping that someone can find her:
@USA_Gunslinger sent us the graphic with snarky commentary:
https://twitter.com/USA_Gunslinger/status/771440493825699840
While @Trumpocrats commented on Trump’s busy day with events in California, Arizona, and Mexico…
@anarchoca juxtaposed that with Hillary’s bare schedule:
https://twitter.com/anarchoca/status/771201924393598976
@JohnGalt191 sent us this meme on Hillary’s reaction to Trump’s visit to Mexico:
And @RdRunrF7 thinks he knows why Hillary hasn’t met with the President of Mexico yet:
Dustin Stockton is a political reporter for Breitbart News, a community liaison for Gun Owners of America, and a political strategist. Follow him on Twitter @DustinStockton or Facebook.
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