Former President Bill Clinton candidly admitted in a resurfaced video that Republicans have a big advantage over Democrats because of their branding.
Playing into that line of reasoning, it’s easy to see why Republicans have the upper hand when Democrats can’t offer any real solutions ahead of 2024 except “Orange Man Bad.”
Bill and Hillary Clinton sat down with the co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein, in New York on May 4th to discuss the divisiveness at play between Democrats and Republicans.
“Since you left Washington, there’s been an increase in what I’ll call the ‘divisiveness’ of Washington. I’m sure you’ve noticed. And um, what do you think accounts for this? It’s much worse than it was even when you were there and it wasn’t great then, but now the Democrats and Republicans don’t even want to talk to each other, let alone think about bipartisan legislation,” Rubenstein told Bill Clinton.
(Video Credit: David Rubenstein)
The host then asked the former president why he thought that was.
“What do you think causes this and do you see any solution in the near term?” Rubenstein asked Clinton.
“Well, if I say it, you’ll say I’m being a partisan Democrat, but I’m going to say it anyway,” Bill Clinton responded.
“It’s because Republicans have been rewarded for being divisive. And it’s great for them because they’re great branders. They’re really good at it… they’re better at it than we are,” the former president claimed.
“And they convince people that our most leftwing members, about 10 percent of our caucus, represent 100 percent of us. And cause people to get scared and in the middle who are swing voters to forget their most rightwing members represent over 90 percent of them in the House and about 60 percent in the Senate,” he accused.
“I have a lot of Republican friends still who just pretend it’s not going on or don’t like it and don’t support it. But you can’t blame people in politics who covet power for doing what works. And it’s been working for them,” Clinton asserted.
Rhetoric such as this is nothing new for Bill Clinton.
He said in 2022 while stumping for New York Democratic U.S. House candidate Josh Riley at a campaign rally in November leading up to the midterm elections, “The Republicans are pretty simple actually, and pretty straightforward. They say, ‘I want you to be very miserable, and I want you to be very angry. And I want you to vote for us, and we’ll make it worse, but we’ll blame them.’”
“The Republicans are pretty simple … They say, ’I want you to be very miserable, and … very angry. And I want you to vote for us, and we’ll make it worse, but we’ll blame them.’”
— Former President Bill Clinton while campaigning for NY House candidate Josh Riley (D) pic.twitter.com/KmMuIrZjEA
— The Recount (@therecount) November 2, 2022
The former president has mostly been out of the headlines since his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ran for the presidency and failed. But he still pops up now and again to support Democrats and their issues.
He has himself shifted from being fairly moderate to taking a much more leftwing stance.
A week ago, he held a virtual meeting with Pope Francis, who urged stronger action on climate change, called for diplomacy instead of war, promoted greater healthcare access for children, and highlighted the crises facing migrants and refugees.
“It is important to spread a culture of encounter, a culture of dialogue, a culture of listening and of understanding,” Pope Francis said on Monday morning, appearing virtually at the Clinton Foundation’s 2023 Clinton Global Initiative meeting, according to Catholic News Agency
“We are living through a changing epoch,” the Pope added. “Only together can we emerge from it better. Together. Only together can we heal the world from the globalization of indifference.”
During the conversation, the Pope called for action to prevent “the ecological catastrophe” of climate change “before it’s too late.” He proclaimed people must take action “while there’s still time” and explained that this is the reason he is writing a new document to follow up on his environmental encyclical.
“You, Mr. President, have listed the many challenges of our time: climate change, humanitarian crises affecting migrants and refugees, and childcare, and many others,” Pope Francis stated.
Pope Francis also decried the “wind of war that blows around the world,” adding that “we are in need of a great and shared assumption of responsibility.”
“It is time for weapons to cease and for us to return to dialogue, to diplomacy,” the Pope contended. “Let the designs of conquest and military aggressions cease. That is why I repeat: no to war; no to war.”
The Pope’s message resonated with Clinton.
“I was honored to speak with His Holiness Pope Francis this morning at CGI2023,” Clinton wrote in a post on X. “As he said, only by working together can we heal the world.”
I was honored to speak with His Holiness @Pontifex this morning at #CGI2023. As he said, only by working together can we heal the world. https://t.co/jPHl39HAto
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) September 18, 2023