Bette Midler raised eyebrows on Sunday when she asked people to imagine what would have happened if Hillary Clinton had claimed the 2016 election was stolen.
“Can you imagine what would have happened if Hillary Clinton had claimed the election was stolen?” Midler posted on X Sunday evening.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Hillary Clinton had claimed the election was stolen?
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) May 19, 2024
The remark, seemingly out of the blue from the legendary singer and actress whose career in Hollywood and on Broadway has spanned more than five decades, immediately attracted criticism as well as a fact-check.
Critics pointed out that Clinton is on the record questioning the results of the election she lost to former President Donald Trump.
“There was a widespread understanding that this election [in 2016] was not on the level,” Clinton said in October 2020 during an interview on The Atlantic’s politics podcast, The Ticket. “We still don’t know what really happened.”
“There’s just a lot that I think will be revealed. History will discover,” Clinton continued. “But you don’t win by 3 million votes and have all this other shenanigans and stuff going on and not come away with an idea like, ‘Whoa, something’s not right here.’ That was a deep sense of unease.”
Just two months earlier, in August 2020, Clinton said Joe Biden, then the Democratic presidential nominee, should not concede the upcoming 2020 election “under any circumstances” because she believed “this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch, and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.”
During the same interview, the former secretary of state also called Trump a “puppet of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin” and said he “did not have the temperament to be president.”
Social media users were quick to point out Clinton’s comments to Midler.
“She did for like years,” one X user wrote.
“She is still saying 2016 was stolen. Who you kidding?” posted another.
One user reminded Midler that the actress herself had questioned the results of 2016.
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“Trump’s getting us all used to the idea that he can pardon himself for his part in Russian interference in the election. The colossal balls on this guy! How can he even walk without clanking?” Midler posted in 2018.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was “stolen” due to ballot fraud exacerbated by an increase in mail-in voting during the pandemic.
In recent months, however, Trump and Republicans have encouraged voters to take advantage of mail-in voting when necessary.
Last month, Trump told supporters that “ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS.”
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