Hillary Clinton’s Five Worst Moments of 2017

Hillary Clinton had a rough 2016 losing a presidential election she was widely expected to win. But her 2017 was not much better. Here are Hillary’s five worst moments of 2017.

The “I’m Owed an Apology” Tour

Most failed presidential candidates have managed to put on an aura of magnanimity, gotten behind the new president, and moved on. Hillary Clinton seemed to be doing this in 2016, giving a semi-gracious concession speech and retreating into the woods.

But by 2017, that had changed. Throughout the first part of the year, she embarked on a speaking tour in which she blamed a lengthy list of people and even countries for her defeat. In addition to blaming former FBI Director James Comey and Russia for her electoral woes, she went on to blame at least 25 other people/reasons/countries/factors for her defeat.

The complaining and blaming made her look petty, and even her staunchest supporters in the media thought the act was wearing somewhat thin.

“Hillary, I love you. But please go away,” started an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in September.

What Happened

Clinton’s decision to release a campaign memoir was not a surprise, particularly given that Clinton has released a book at every turn in her public life. But What Happened shocked critics with its angry, and sometimes petty, tone when it was released.

Instead of being a realistic self-evaluation of her and her campaign, it continued in the theme of her griping tour’s motif of blaming all for her sundry woes. Even those areas where she did accept some blame were along the lines of “I just thought the American people cared more about policy than theatrics” types of mea culpa.

It was subsequently followed by yet more speaking engagements, which often resulted in her blaming and complaining in the same way as her pre-release engagements.

Uranium One Scandal Reappears

Another year, another Clinton scandal. Only, in this case, it was the re-emergence of the Uranium One scandal that initially emerged in 2015. Government Accountability Institute (GAI) president and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer broke the scandal in his 2015 book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.

In the book, Schweizer reported that Clinton’s State Department, along with other federal agencies, approved the sale and that nine foreign investors in the deal gave $145 million to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s personal charity, the Clinton Foundation.

The scandal, confirmed by the New York Times, hurt Clinton throughout her doomed presidential campaign. But it hit the headlines this year again in October, when The Hill reported that, ahead of the deal, the FBI had uncovered “substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering” to expand Russia’s nuclear footprint in the U.S. as early as 2009.

According to The Hill, the agency also found that Russian nuclear officials had routed “millions of dollars” to the U.S. to benefit the Clinton Foundation, once again raising the specter of “pay-to-play.” Clinton has furiously denied the claims and has maintained the scandal has been debunked. But amid calls from Republican lawmakers to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sale, Clinton spent much of 2017 under scrutiny over her foundation’s financial dealings once again.

Liberals Put Bill’s Past Under the Microscope

In the wake of allegations of sexual impropriety against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein — a Clinton donor — and the rise of the #MeToo movement in response to a surge of allegations of harassment against powerful men, the question of Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct once again rose to the surface.

In the 90s, many Democrats had been prepared to look past, dismiss, and outright disbelieve many of the allegations against the former president — often justified because he was promoting an agenda with which they agreed.

But as the #MeToo movement gained momentum, and with the Clinton star fading, many commentators decided that it was time to revise their assessment of Bill Clinton.

“Bill Clinton continues to be an honored guest even in the #MeToo era. Should he be?” asked an article in liberal Vox.

“Is it finally time to make things right?” an Atlantic article about Bill Clinton’s “reckoning,” asked.

Meanwhile, Democrats such as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said the president should have resigned over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

As the Clintons’ stranglehold over the Democratic Party weakened, it seems that more commentators and politicians are looking to re-evaluate their legacy — a bad sign if Mrs. Clinton wishes to run again in 2020.

Vanity Fair Says She Should Take Up Knitting

To cap off a pretty terrible year for the former secretary of state, Vanity Fair — an outlet known for its liberal leanings, made a video mocking Clinton and suggesting she take up some New Year’s resolutions.

“Get someone on your tech staff to disable autofill on your iPhone so typing in ‘f’ doesn’t become ‘form an exploratory committee for 2020,’” jokes one millennial on the video.

“Take up a new hobby in the new year. Volunteer work, knitting, improv comedy, literally anything that will keep you from running again,” another contributor says.

The outlet later backed down in face of anger from Hillary Clinton supporters, saying it regretted that the joke “missed the mark.” But it seems that even among liberal outlets, Clinton is increasingly becoming a subject of humor rather than admiration.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.