Typically, the rivalry between Republican and Democratic candidates is the source of most political drama during election years. However, in the 2016 presidential election, the Democratic party is sharply divided between people who support candidate Hillary Clinton and candidate Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton is seen as the established candidate with questionable motives, while many people view Sanders as a more genuine and trustworthy candidate, even if he is not as well known as Hillary Clinton. A recent statement by Hillary Clinton has created outrage among the many Sanders supporters on Twitter.
According to Hillary Clinton, she will not be debating Bernie Sanders in New York because of some issue that she has with his “tone.” Supposedly, Clinton feels that Sanders ads have a negative tone, so she does not want to debate him. The ads that she has complained about are merely ads that criticize Hillary Clinton’s past political record, and they contain nothing personal, rude, or scandalous.
Twitter was quick to point out the many problems that people have with Hillary Clinton’s statement. The hashtag #ToneDownForWhat, which is a wordplay based on the popular song, “Turn Down for What,” has been trending, and it is full of hilarious comebacks. With meme-like images and snappy sayings, Twitter users are casting a humorous light on Hillary Clinton’s statements.
As quite a few users were quick to point out, Clinton can expect far worse if she wins the nomination and is running against a Republican candidate. For example, Donald Trump’s tone would most likely be way more negative than Sanders. Many people also complained about the negative standard, since Hillary Clinton’s supporters complain about sexism anytime her tone is criticized for being too abrupt or negative. Many feel that this is a cowardly ploy because Hillary Clinton does not want to face Sanders in an open debate.
Some users tease Clinton by suggesting that she might say “I’d love to talk about destroying ISIS, but first they need to change their tone.” Other memes accuse her of being a political coward. One of the most well liked jokes is the joke that Hillary will only debate if the debate rules include “interpretive dancing only, no mention of my record, I get a bird, [and] no talk about my Wall St. friends.” As a quick browse of the #ToneDownForWhat hashtag shows, this is seen as yet another example of Hillary’s hypocrisy and refusal to focus on real political issues.
Much of this outrage seems to be due to the fact that Hillary Clinton has previously stated that presidential candidates ought to debate at any opportunity, since it helps voters to decide. Since Sanders is a native New Yorker and Clinton has represented the state as a senator before, it seems reasonable that the state would particularly benefit from getting to see where the top two Democratic candidates stand on important issues. After all of the public outcry over her refusal to debate Sanders, it is possible that Hillary Clinton will change her mind and agree to debate him in New York after all.