Bill and Hillary Clinton will attend Trump’s inauguration because of course they will

Hillary Clinton Press Conference - New York, NY

Bill and Hillary Clinton have decided to attend the inauguration of Hillary’s former rival Donald Trump as our 45th president.

In a bit of news that feels just a tad planted, two “well placed sources” told New York Magazine that while the Clintons weren’t sure at first, they decided after much discussion with advisers and friends to attend “out of a sense of duty and respect for the American democratic process.” So much for not normalizing Trump.

This decision comes just two months after Mrs. Clinton accused the orange demagogue of “threatening our democracy” after he refused to say whether or he’d respect the results of the election, and hot on the heels of a victory tour during which crowds of Trump supporters persisted in chanting “lock her up!,” the “her” being Clinton of course.

This goes without saying, but you cannot call someone a unique threat to our democracy one moment, then get dressed up and go to a party in his honor the next. Or rather, you can, but it will reveal that the things you said about him were bullshit. We’ve seen this attitude all along from liberals who compared Trump to Hitler during the election, then rolled over and played dead as soon as he’d won. If they really thought Trump was Hitler, they’d be preparing for armed resistance, not promising to help him gut the Affordable Care Act.

I know the election has given some people amnesia, but the Clintons used to be friendly with the Trumps and probably will be again, if they ever stopped. Their daughters have remained close throughout. Bill and Hillary went to Donald and Melania’s wedding. Trump had a pleasant chat with Bill right before he announced his 2016 run. Trump was never going to “lock her up,” and the Clintons were never going to sit out Trump’s inauguration.

More than any ideology or party affiliation, the Clintons are invested in the stability of the system and their position within it. Sometimes that means crying fascism to win an election; others it means playing nice with that very fascist. As much as staying home from the inauguration would make their constituents happy and embolden Democrats to stand up against Trump’s shady, unethical reign, their primary fealty is to the political class of which Trump is now a member.

That these fallen oligarchs managed to leak it to the press that it was in any way a difficult decision is a classic bit of triangulation. At least we know the Clinton propaganda apparatus is still in working order.

[Photo: Getty]

Tags: Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, inauguration
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