The 2016 presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has been incredibly divisive. One of the most common themes that the media seems to be pushing is that nobody likes either of the candidates. Both appear to have high unfavorability ratings in the country. This has resulted in many people saying that neither choice is good. You can also commonly head people saying that it does not matter which candidate you vote for because they are both equally bad. This is the type of apathy and cynicism that has allowed awful politicians to stay in office for decades. The sentiment is simply not true.
The reality is that there is a huge difference between Clinton and Trump. Part of this is because of the long history Clinton has with the country. Hillary Clinton has been serving the public in some way since 1971. She has been under almost constant attack since Bill Clinton was elected as governor of Arkansas. Many Conservatives and Republicans have gone out of their way to demonize the Clintons. Conspiracy theories, lawsuits and rumors have been in place for decades. No accusation of illegal activity has ever been proven true against her. Most of the conspiracies have been proven as blatantly false. Meanwhile, Trump has enjoyed a very controlled image over the years because most people simply did not pay much attention to him.
The decades of scorn, conspiracies and Republican hatred towards Hillary Clinton have tainted her image with the public. Most of those negative perceptions about Clinton are founded only on right-wing gossip and innuendo instead of facts. It is clear today that Hillary Clinton presents the better option for the country in the 2016 presidential election. She has achieved far more than almost anyone else who has ever run for president. Hillary Clinton was first lady, senator from New York and Secretary of Defense. She is the most qualified person to be president.
Hillary Clinton has a long list of positive accomplishments. She played pivotal roles in many organizations as a lawyer including the Children’s Defense Fund. She was named Arkansas Woman of the Year in 1983. She chaired the Commission on Women in the Profession for the American Bar Association. She fought for childhood immunizations as well as funding for childhood asthma and prostate cancer research. She served on five different Senate committees while representing New York. Clinton even negotiated a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in 2012. This is in addition to many other accomplishments such as promoting women’s rights around the world.
Donald Trump has a very different set of accomplishments. His businesses have declared bankruptcy four times in order to avoid paying debts. He is calling for 11 million people to be deported from the United States through use of a militaristic force. Trump wants to violate the constitution and ban or deport people based on a religious test. Trump surrogates, allies and backers seem to have ties to white supremacists an inordinate amount of the time. He has praised dictators, fascists and despots like Vladimir Putin. Trump wants to pull the United States out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, and the United Nations. Finally, Trump seems to be fine with using nuclear weapons as a first option when dealing with hostile nations or forces.
The differences between Clinton and Trump are stark. They are not the same candidate no matter how you feel. This is partly because Clinton is held to a different standard. Many people talk about the four Americans who died during a terrorist attack on an outpost in Benghazi yet those same individuals never held previous presidents or secretaries of state accountable for similar situations. An example is the 1983 attack in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. Hillary Clinton is simply the better candidate. It is time to look at the facts and leave the Republican conspiracies, gossip and lies behind.