Did Hillary Clinton break the law during her infamous subway ride?
On Thursday morning, Hillary Clinton rode New York City's 4 Train from Yankee Stadium to 170th Street, eliciting jokes and Michele Bachmann tutorials after failing to swipe through the turnstile with the grace of a seasoned city-dweller. However, some are now pointing fingers at Clinton for allegedly getting away with breaking a law — because in New York, it is technically illegal to campaign on the subway.
It is up for debate if Clinton was actually "campaigning" — but Ali Gharib at The Guardian argues that by "glad-handing on the train itself," Clinton's short ride was "all the more galling because there are actual, regular New Yorkers trying to make ends meet who are arrested for violating the same rules that Clinton disregards with impunity."
"When performers are playing music they are thought to be committing a crime and arrested, and apparently when Hillary Clinton does public speaking on a train car that is not considered a violation of the statute," Matthew Christian of BuskNY told The Guardian.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Still, some think that getting fired up about Clinton's ride is just looking for something to be angry about. "I've ridden the subway in NYC for almost 30 years. I have never, not once, seen a fine handed out for any type of performance. And I have probably seen hundreds," one Reddit user pointed out.
Watch Clinton's subterranean New York adventure below. Jeva Lange
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
‘The Big Crunch’: why science is divided over the future of the universeThe Explainer New study upends the prevailing theory about dark matter and says it is weakening
-
Quiz of The Week: 1 – 7 NovemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
How to invest in the artificial intelligence boomThe Explainer Artificial intelligence is the biggest trend in technology, but there are fears that companies are overvalued
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
