Is it any surprise Hillary Clinton concealed her pneumonia?

When did being a good leader and being honest become mutually exclusive


The campaign trail is a seemingly endless stretch of extreme mental and physical strain. Everything a candidate does is examined or discussed, and politicians live a life of continuous political theater. Some people were surprised to learn Hillary Clinton had been withholding information about her health, but from how she has presented herself thus far it should come as no surprise.

Hillary Clinton’s doctor Lisa Bardack recently released a letter explaining the candidate’s current physical condition and why she was forced to leave a September 11th commemoration at Ground Zero and temporarily suspend the campaign. The prognosis for Hillary’s pneumonia is good and according to her personal physician’s letter she is “recovering well” and “continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States.”

The Washington Post has pointed out that she had another serious incident in 2012, when dehydration caused her to faint. In that incident she sustained a concussion which ultimately led to a blood clot in her skull. This past injury has led to many claims that Clinton’s health is bad and even more unfounded theories. That aside, she did withhold the information of her diagnosis and also ignored her doctor’s advice.

Whether you like it or not, Hillary Clinton has the endorsement and continued support of the current President, and the Democratic Party’s only other real candidate is with her on the campaign trail as well. Clinton seems to be on the home stretch toward the White House, and she’s managed to swiftly sidestep a series of politically toxic events that would have sidelined any other candidate. Such seemingly impossible political gymnastics makes it pretty easy to be cynical about Hillary Clinton and the lengths she is willing to go to become president.

For the last few months the Clinton campaign has had a clear strategy of trying to shift attention towards Donald Trump. Even more people seem to be talking about Obama or Bernie Sanders traveling with the Clinton campaign than actually talking about the candidate herself. No, I’m not surprised that Hillary would keep some things a secret at this point, because if something works you keep doing it. Her main appeal has been founded in the notion that she is the most qualified and prudent of candidates. If that’s the case then up until November 7th she’ll keep on maintaining the facade of health or happiness or whatever it takes.

Now Trump is sharing his doctor’s note from a recent physical and there are more people than ever talking about body doubles and cover ups. Gallup released a report this week showing American confidence in mass media has hit an all time low. The report showed only 32 percent of Americans claimed to have a great deal of trust in the media, and that this drop in confidence was bipartisan and significant across all age groups of eligible voters. Meanwhile hackers and other groups are sharing more and more information that would suggest various examples of fraudulent behavior and collusion that are apparently reaching all the way up to the Oval Office. People are identifying less with political parties more than ever because people trust them less than ever. More over they also trust the media less than ever as well.

People have simply accepted the fact that we will probably never be getting the whole truth out of either the Trump or Clinton campaigns and probably even less out of the mass media. Sure, Hillary Clinton’s health is probably not a huge conspiracy but there are plenty of other worrisome stories and theories that have far deeper implications. If people continue to feel lied to they will not trust politicians or the information written about them. As long as people feel they are in the dark when it comes to what the truth is they will continue to be cynical and skeptical about everything they hear. When did being a good leader and being honest become mutually exclusive anyways?