RUTHFULLY YOURS

You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?

[Laughter/applause]

The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.

Since then, Mrs. Clinton has at times expressed regret for such remarks and at other times hurled still more insults when describing people who chose not to vote for her. But until this week she seemed concerned mainly with accusing Republicans of moral failings.

In a new podcast interview with former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, Mrs. Clinton says she was surprised to find out in 2016 how many sexists there were in both parties. And Mrs. Clinton, who continues throughout the interview to cling to the discredited theory that Russian interference is partly responsible for her 2016 loss, claims that one of the Democrats now running for President will actually be used by both Republicans and Russians to swing the election.

The Journal’s Ken Thomas writes:

The former secretary of state said this week in an interview with David Plouffe, a former Obama campaign manager, that President Trump is “Vladimir Putin’s dream.” She said Republicans would attempt to boost a third-party candidate to help the president’s re-election in key battleground states and implied that they would choose someone Russia would support.

“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Mrs. Clinton said. A spokesman said she was referring to Republicans.

“She’s a favorite of the Russians,” Mrs. Clinton said of the Democratic candidate. “They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”

To buy into the new Clinton conspiracy theory, it seems that one must also believe that American voters are not equipped to resist the power of fake news from Russia.

Previous efforts to present Russian online messages as decisive in the 2016 U.S. election have led to some laughable results. But Mrs. Clinton is keeping the faith that she was robbed in 2016 and insists this week that “a lot more happened than has been admitted publicly.” Despite the Mueller report’s finding of no collusion, she suggests that President Trump is compromised. “I don’t know what Putin has on him, whether it’s both personal and financial—I assume it is,” she tells Mr. Plouffe.

Beyond the Russians, she talks about an effort by Trump 2020 campaign chief Brad Parscale to “manipulate more voters’ minds.”

For voters who tend to believe their minds are not so easily manipulated, Mrs. Clinton also offers a history lesson. She notes that the current impeachment effort will be more challenging than the Watergate inquiry she worked on as a young congressional aide, in part because of all the new media competition.

Back in Nixon days there were just three commercial broadcast television networks, plus dominant newspapers. Now, she says, “I think it’s a lot harder for Americans to know what they’re supposed to believe.”

She tells the story of dealing with questions from reporter Sam Donaldson in the 1970s, rather than today’s myriad online media competitors. “It was a much more controllable environment,” she laments.

Of course many Americans have known for a long time that they don’t want a few media gatekeepers telling them what to believe. And they’re skeptical of anyone trying to control their information environment.

As for Mrs. Clinton, her views on the subject may help explain the results of the 2016 election and her fears about 2020. Is she really concerned about the alleged ability of foreigners to manipulate voters’ minds—or about her own party’s inability?

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