Hillary Clinton’s recent health episode stirred speculation on what would happen if she dropped out of the race before Election Day.
Advertisement
Clinton could be seen stumbling and struggling to get into a van after having to leave a 9/11 memorial ceremony on Sunday, which was followed by the revelation that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday and was on antibiotics.
According to two Trump advisers, Trump chose to stay away from seizing on the Sunday incident with the aim of bringing Clinton’s “deplorables” comments-for which she has expressed regret-back to the forefront of the campaign this week and avoiding any chance for Clinton to say that Trump was overstepping on the health front. Late Sunday night, she called off plans to travel to California for two days of fundraising, campaign events and an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show.
Trump, who is behind Clinton in the voter surveys but has narrowed her lead, wants to win the votes of the rural middle class who have lost ground economically due to globalization and industrial reconversion.
The incident compounds an already hard time for Clinton as the presidential race enters its final stretch.
NBC News’s story-“Hillary Clinton’s Health Scare: 9 Unanswered Questions” -was arguably the most unsparing.
Clinton said that Hillary is doing well and “just got dehydrated yesterday”.
“I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal”, she said of the pneumonia diagnosis she received Friday. She meant to stay until about 10:30 a.m., but left an hour earlier than planned. She’d spent about 90 minutes standing with other dignitaries in the sun on a warm and humid day. She’s expected to be back on the campaign trail as soon as Wednesday. Aides provided no information about why she left or her whereabouts for almost two hours. But Sunday’s incident has raised more health questions about the 68-year-old former Secretary of State. Clinton exited the building on her own, wearing sunglasses and carrying a handbag. “I mean, I would think it would have been, so something’s going on”, Trump said on Fox News. “It’s a attractive day in NY”.
But the media pounced on Clinton after her health episode, with several reporters suggesting that she was deathly ill – both before and after her diagnosis was revealed – even though she appeared fine outside her daughter Chelsea’s apartment just a few hours later.
The goal is to keep the public informed about their condition, whereabouts and official interactions at all times.
Advertisement
Bill Clinton faced questions about his health too, and while he was unforthcoming in 1992, he sat for a detailed interview with the New York Times in 1996. “At this morning’s event, she became overheated and dehydrated”. He added that if there are more health problems that caused her apparent weakness, “then it’s a mystery to me and all of her doctors”.
