by Micah J. Fleck

For quite literally months, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been behaving in strange ways that have caused the more astute members of the press (i.e. those not part of the bought-up mainstream corner of televised news) to call into question her health. This by any objective standard is a reasonable thing to talk about, especially if we were simply asking questions and not forcing any outrageous answers of our own. And yet, that didn’t stop the Hillary apologists’ claws to spring out and the mainstream media to fawn over her all the more in an attempt to obfuscate the reality – Hillary Clinton is quite ill.

But finally, on 9/11 of 2016, it all came to a head and Clinton had yet another episode while visiting the 9/11 memorial service in New York City. She was whisked away early by her entourage once the signs were clear, but not before a very helpful smartphone user caught footage of Clinton collapsing and being literally dragged into her limo by her handlers. What followed was a laughably absurd rest of the morning into the afternoon on MSNBC in which all of the news anchors and reporters would simply not stop opining about how apparently hot and destructive the weather was that day (as someone who lives in the city and was out in said weather on 9/11, I can assure you that it wasn’t that hot at all). Much later in the day, Hillary emerged from her daughter’s apartment to greet the press. “I feel great!” She said upon being asked how she was doing. But the moment the same reporters, at the same volume, asked her the all-important question, “what happened?” Hillary pretended to not hear the inquiries and simply walked on.

There was no denying it anymore – something was going on.

Hillary’s campaign officials finally acknowledged that Clinton was indeed sick, and promised that her medical records would be shortly released for public consumption. As of this writing, that has not actually happened. Instead, what we have gotten is a very sterile, very carefully phrased, very incomplete doctor’s statement on an official-looking hospital letterhead.

But what this “release” of medical records does show, albeit qualifying to be called a partial release at most, is that the Clinton campaign did actively cover up Hillary’s illnesses. There is no longer any doubt. Between the secret surgeries and brain scans and the push to cover up the fact that she had a physician accompanying her the entire time as part of her perpetual posse, it’s becoming painfully obvious that the public cannot trust Clinton to be transparent. Now, the apologists would certainly argue that the Clinton campaign simply didn’t want to alarm anyone and that it was considered a better option to just ride out the wave and smile for the cameras. No doubt this was likely a motivation for the deception, but this doesn’t change the fact that now, even what information has been released is incomplete and late enough to not be fully trusted. How do we know that a sinus problem and subsequent pneumonia is the only thing ailing Mrs. Clinton? How do we know this isn’t just more obfuscation? We don’t. And that’s the problem.

We should be alarmed by the fact that not only were we deceived by a lying candidate’s campaign, but that the “coming clean” phase itself still seemed mired in secrecy. Even if this is all there is to it and Hillary will truly start to get well again moving forward, we now know for sure that she cannot tell the truth about anything – even her own health. Someone so eager to deceive and obscure reality for personal gain is someone we should be very wary of voting into the highest office in the land. The time for the Hillary apologetics has finally run its course; now, we must stand together in opposition to dishonesty and obscurantism. Regardless of whose side one might be on. This problem is bigger than us and our identity politics, and the longer we ignore that fact, the bigger the problem grows.