2016 US election was heavily tilted in favor of Hillary Clinton, but she still lost: Analyst

The 2016 US presidential election was heavily tilted in favor of Hillary Clinton, but she still lost “to the surprise of everyone involved in trying to place her in office,” according to a New York-based political commentator and journalist.

Don DeBar made the remarks on Saturday to Press TV while commenting on former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s rant again Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking on Thursday at the Hay Festival, an annual multi-day literature and arts event held in the United Kingdom, Clinton said Putin is determined to achieve his goal of “restoring imperial Russia,” having an “almost messianic belief in himself.”  

Clinton said she observed Putin’s attitude toward himself and Russia while she was leading the State Department and he was serving as prime minister of Russia, according to The Guardian.

She said she wrote memos warning that Putin would become a threat to Europe and the rest of the world but hoped Putin would pursue a more cooperative route with the United States.

Clinton said she had “some positive developments” with Putin while she served as secretary of state, but their relationship declined after she criticized the legitimacy of the 2012 Russian presidential elections that ascended Putin to the presidency.

DeBar said, “The most narcissistic being in the history of the world is criticizing Vladimir Putin as having a Messianic complex? The mind boggles at the sheer arrogance of it.”

“Clinton had the nerve to say that the 2012 election was heavily weighted towards Putin and that this somehow undermines his legitimacy as president,” he added.

“It is impossible to fathom an election more heavily tilted in favor of one candidate than the 2016 election was tilted in favor of Hillary Clinton,” DeBar said.

“And yet, she lost, to the surprise of everyone involved in trying to place her in office, including her. It must really gall her that she was one of the most unpopular candidates for president in the history of the world despite all of the institutional power that was arrayed behind her. And that Putin consistently carries a 60% to 80% favorable rating among Russians,” he stated.

“And, by the way, that he has won multiple times. Most people outgrow her personality flaws in high school,” he concluded.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an intergovernmental organization that monitors issues like the free press, human rights and free and fair elections, issued a statement following the 2012 Russian election, saying the vote was “heavily tilted” in Putin’s favor.

Clinton said Putin blamed her assertion that Russians deserve an election “that meets international standards” for protests that occurred after the election, according to The Guardian.

“Putin does not like critics, especially women critics,” she said. “Putin then became very adversarial toward me with few exceptions.”

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Clinton served as a Democratic senator for New York and as the first lady during her husband Bill Clinton’s tenure as US president.

As secretary of state during Barack Obama’s presidency, she strongly advocated for US military intervention in Syria and Libya.

But above all, Clinton’s political ambitions were frustrated by her vote in favor of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. She lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

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