Hillary Clinton’s WikiLeaks just keep coming. Conservative website Breitbart.com has obtained a leaked transcript of Clinton speaking to Goldman Sachs about immigration, in which she calls those in favor of limiting immigration “fundamentally un-American.” Two explanations for this story can be given: either the Democrats are becoming more liberal, or Breitbart is looking for its own angle to make it real news.
Center-left to extreme left
There’s no doubt that both major parties have veered to extremes this election cycle. In fact, this is one of the areas
that Dr. Adams wanted us to watch. In her speech, Clinton noted that “obstructionists…have such a narrow view of America,” and their views on immigration “have to be rejected because they are fundamentally un-American” (Hahn). In using this type of rhetoric, Clinton could have been trying to attract the extreme left voters — those who supported Bernie Sanders’ positions of open borders and citizenship for illegal immigrants. She also could have been making this statement to lead into more inclusive and progressive policies of the Democratic party on illegal immigration.
Conservative news media
Perhaps, Breitbart News is spinning this story in a way to make it real news, and to discourage voters from electing Hillary Clinton. The outlet gathered data from Pew Research Center, saying that “83% of the American electorate would like to see immigration levels frozen or reduced” (Hahn). In this case, Breitbart could be stating that Clinton called 83% of Americans “un-American.” This rhetorical strategy is aimed at the voters with an underlying message of “don’t vote for Clinton” because of her comments regarding immigration. While Clinton’s immigration rhetoric is meant to be inclusive, Breitbart is trying to make the rhetoric backfire on her.
Clinton’s immigration rhetoric
Compared to Trump’s immigration policy rhetoric, Clinton’s has not gained nearly as much attention. However, with a conservative media outlet like Breitbart obtaining this leak to create a story, her immigration rhetoric could be viewed as generalized and even offensive. On the other hand, this leak could just be revealing Clinton’s attempt to play to the radical left with this type of rhetoric. As we know, the evaluation of political communication is an interpretive act, and Clinton’s immigration rhetoric means different things to different people. Conservatives may take offense, while liberals may applaud and agree with her.
Work Cited
Hahn, Julia. “Wikileaks Reveals — Hillary Clinton to Goldman Sachs: Americans Who Want to Limit Immigration are ‘Fundamentally UnAmerican’.” breitbart.com. Breitbart, 15 Oct. 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
I agree with the fact that both parties are extremely left or extremely right in this election. I wrote my blog about that very thing this week about how their positions have flip flopped from before they were candidates to now. They have no sense of middle ground in this election. The issue here with Clinton is, as you said, that she called 83% of Americans “un-American”. This could be very offensive to many voters and cause her to lose any potential voters that she may have gained that are on Trump’s side. After this comment, they may feel that they are unvalued by her. Additionally, I thought it was interesting that she made this comment because she was speaking of anyone who wanted any type of limit on immigration, but she herself doesn’t want every single immigrant and refugee to be allowed in the country. Therefore, she in some ways called herself “un-American.”