It’s hard to imagine Hillary Clinton with a guilty conscience — she’s definitely not the type — but what other possible explanation is there for her joining with Jill Stein in the Green Party candidate’s quixotic attempt to overturn the presidential election? Consciously or unconsciously, Clinton must want to be punished.

Until the election, Stein was about as well-known as the average junior high school guidance counselor, so it’s easy to see why she would do anything in her power to prolong her fleeting moment in the sun. But Clinton?

Hillary has everything to lose. I mean everything. And almost nothing to gain, considering the nearly insurmountable odds of the election being overturned. Three states are in play with voting differentials ranging from just over ten thousand to over seventy thousand. She would have to win all three. Al Gore couldn’t win one when the differential was a measly 572 votes.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump had been pledging throughout the campaign to fully investigate the matters relating to Clinton’s email server and the Clinton Foundation to avid choruses of “Lock her up!” from his faithful. Then, after Trump won and Clinton made the proper concession phone call, Donald relented and said on more than one occasion that he was moving on, implying that he wouldn’t recommend prosecution. (Yes, I know it’s not his decision, but it wasn’t Obama’s either. In the real world, the attorney general would not move on something this cataclysmic without at least tacit presidential approval.)

But, astoundingly, after receiving what many are calling a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, Clinton joined forces with Stein in her crusade. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dopier, more self-destructive example of “poking the lion,” especially since there are so many areas in which she could be liable from a mere obstruction of justice charge on to a full RICO investigation that could literally implicate dozens of members of her already-reeling political party.

Who recommended this to Hillary among that flotilla of supposedly smart lawyers surrounding her? What a mistake they and she made. Many people on the Republican side had approved of Trump’s magnanimity. I doubt many are now.

Speaking only for myself, I originally, though somewhat reluctantly, agreed that Trump was right and moving on was the best approach, even though it would have left a stain on the rule of law in our country forever. The high must face the same legal process as the low in any society that even pretends to justice.

No longer. I don’t say “lock her up” — yet. I say we need a full and transparent investigation of everything from the email scandal to Benghazi to the Clinton Foundation. Let it all hang out. Let even-handed justice be served.

Mr. Sessions, you have a job to do. I’m sure there are many already in place in the FBI who will be delighted to help you.

And, yes, I was being a bit facetious when I implied Hillary had a guilty conscience. Rage, envy, and entitlement seem more at play here – not that she doesn’t have plenty to be guilty about, not the least of which is leaving her political party the shadow of its former self.

No, if the Clintons are like some poisonous snake forever resuscitating themselves, they must now permanently and completely be exterminated. Mercy only for the merciful.

Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and co-founder of PJ Media. His latest book is I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.