On Maddow, Hillary Clinton playacts a 2020 Democrat asking China to hack Trump's tax returns, to illustrate our 'absurd' political moment
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
There are a lot of good ideas for protecting America's elections from foreign meddling included in bipartisan legislation, but Senate Republicans, "under orders from the White House," won't consider them, Hillary Clinton said on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show Wednesday night. Clinton suggested that the Trump White House believes Russian interference helped them and doesn't want to ruin a good thing for 2020 — and she tried to gin up a little empathy.
"Imagine, Rachel, that you had one of the Democratic nominees for 2020 on your show," Clinton said, "and that person said: 'You know, the only other adversary of ours who's anywhere near as good as the Russians is China. So why should Russia have all the fun? And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why don't we ask China to back us?'" Maddow joined in: "I hereby tonight ask China...." "That's right," Clinton said. "'China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns? I'm sure our media would richly reward you.' Now, according to the Mueller report, that is not conspiracy because it's done right out in the open."
"So, if after this hypothetical Democratic candidate says this on your show, within hours, all of a sudden the IRS offices are bombarded with incredibly sophisticated cybertools looking for Trump's tax returns," Clinton continued, "and then extracts them and then passes them to whatever the new WikiLeaks happens to be, and they start being unraveled and disclosed, nothing wrong with that! I mean, if you're going to let Russia get away with what they did, and are still doing ... hey, let's have a great-power contest and let's get the Chinese in on the side of somebody else. Just saying that shows how absurd the situation we find ourselves in."
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.
Two wrongs don't make a right, of course, but it's food for thought.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
-
Bondi, Democrats clash over Epstein in hearingSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi ignored survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump
-
El Paso airspace closure tied to FAA-Pentagon standoffSpeed Read The closure in the Texas border city stemmed from disagreements between the Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests
-
Judge blocks Trump suit for Michigan voter rollsSpeed Read A Trump-appointed federal judge rejected the administration’s demand for voters’ personal data
-
US to send 200 troops to Nigeria to train armySpeed Read Trump has accused the West African government of failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks
-
Grand jury rejects charging 6 Democrats for ‘orders’ videoSpeed Read The jury refused to indict Democratic lawmakers for a video in which they urged military members to resist illegal orders
-
Judge rejects California’s ICE mask ban, OKs ID lawSpeed Read Federal law enforcement agents can wear masks but must display clear identification
-
Lawmakers say Epstein files implicate 6 more menSpeed Read The Trump department apparently blacked out the names of several people who should have been identified



