Hillary Clinton Declares ‘Founding Fathers Would Be Appalled’ by Trump, Lauds Democrats’ Socialist ‘Experiment’ as ‘Healthy’

“Our Founding Fathers would be appalled” is how Secretary Hillary Clinton described the Trump administration on Monday, part of a burst of late-summer activity that suggests that she has no intention of taking a back seat ahead of the November midterm elections.On Thursday, Mrs. Clinton announced that she would participate in a karaoke event in October to benefit “Raise Your Voice for Democracy,” which aims to mobilize midterm voters. She declared, “I promise that you don’t want to hear me sing at this karaoke night. But some friends will” — including Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda and actor Paul Rudd.Mrs. Clinton is no stranger to the stage — she co-produced the musical “Suffs” in 2024 — but her métier is the political arena. On Monday, she appeared on a panel sponsored by the Hamptons Institute, which is based at Guild Hall in East Hampton and bills itself as a “forum for leading figures to discuss the most significant subjects of our time.” Mrs. Clinton served as America’s 42nd first lady, 64th senator from New York, and 67th United States secretary of state.Mrs. Clinton’s reflections about how the Founding Fathers would view the 47th president were delivered to the Hamptons Institute. She also reserved sharp words for Prime Minister Netanyahu, declaring that “there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind how seriously Netanyahu has damaged, first and foremost, Israel, and second, the perception that people not just in the U.S. but around the world have of Israel.”“We’re against a lot of the decisions that the Netanyahu government is making, and we are for Israel. I’m against a lot of decisions that the Trump administration makes, and I’m for America,” Mrs. Clinton added.Mrs. Clinton’s declaration that she is “for Israel” — even with the attendant criticism of its leader — marks her as out of step with most of the current iteration of the Democratic Party. Some 80 percent of Democrats hold an unfavorable view of the Jewish state. The party’s nominee for Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, accuses Israel of genocide, has campaigned with the antisemitic podcaster Hasan Piker, and acknowledges that he “struggles” with the notion of a single country for the Jews.Criticism of the Israeli premier has become de rigueur for Democrats. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called Mr. Netanyahu a “war criminal” and demanded his arrest pursuant to a warrant from the International Criminal Court should he set foot in New York City. He only gave up that aspiration when he was told he lacked the legal authority to make such an arrest. A Pew Research poll from March found that confidence in the Israeli prime minister was at 12 percent among Democrats.The Democrats’ growing distance from Israel is driving — or is being driven — by the party’s leftward lurch. A decade after Mrs. Clinton battled Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, it is the octogenarian Democratic Socialist’s brand of politics that appears to be ascendant. Mr. Mamdani credits the Vermonter as a mentor as does Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Candidates affiliated with his Democratic Socialists of America prospered in primaries from New York to Florida and beyond.Mrs. Clinton, long associated with the party’s more centrist wing, told the Hamptons Institute that the Democrats are “going through an experiment” with a more socialist orientation — and she reckons that such soul-searching is “healthy.” In a documentary released in 2020, Mrs. Clinton contended that “nobody likes” Mr. Sanders, “nobody wants to work with him,” and he “got nothing done” during his time in Congress.The former secretary of state also told the Hamptons Institute that she estimates that some Republicans are “secretly cheering” for Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, in his trade war with Mr. Trump. She speculated that “I can’t imagine that even in the Republican cloakroom, in the Senate, there’s much enthusiasm for going into a trade war with Canada.”Mrs. Clinton struck a more pessimistic note with respect to her party’s direction earlier this month on Kara Swisher’s podcast, “Pivot.” Mrs. Clinton told Ms. Swisher that Republican efforts to paint Democrats as “communists” and “socialists” ahead of the midterms could prove effective, especially in the case of Dr. El-Sayed, who is already facing scrutiny over his ties to Mr. Piker.

Hillary Clinton Declares ‘Founding Fathers Would Be Appalled’ by Trump, Lauds Democrats’ Socialist ‘Experiment’ as ‘Healthy’

Hillary Clinton Declares ‘Founding Fathers Would Be Appalled’ by Trump, Lauds Democrats’ Socialist ‘Experiment’ as ‘Healthy’

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