Drop Out Hillary is going viral, and close to 100,000 people have taken to the internet in an effort to show their displeasure with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
The hashtag #DropOutHillary shot to the top of Twitter’s trends on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of people making their voices heard that Clinton should drop out of the race to be the Democratic Party’s candidate in November.
The #DropOutHillary movement comes with a variety of rationales. Some voters argue that the polarizing history of both Bill and Hillary Clinton will ensure more gridlock as an obstructionist Congress that thwarted any attempt by Barack Obama to accomplish his agenda will only get worse under Hillary Clinton.
Many cited polls showing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a much stronger position to take on Donald Trump in the fall. Sanders has consistently held a larger lead against Trump, with close to a 20-point advantage (though Clinton herself has consistently held a lead closer to 10 points over Trump as well).
One of the biggest points in the #DropOutHillary movement was the FBI investigation and the looming possibility that the bureau could recommend indictment for Clinton’s unauthorized use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State.
#DropOutHillary You R under FBI INVESTIGATION Even Nixon had more integrity & resigned. U R a Global Embarrassment pic.twitter.com/OYeT6AZCgt
— Irene Berns ?#MedicareForAll (@ireneberns) May 4, 2016
With this investigation hanging over her head, many people called on Hillary to step aside and allow Sanders to take the nomination rather than risk the party falling apart after an indictment, one that would likely sweep Trump into the White House.
But some are pushing back against the #DropOutHillary movement. Blue Nation Review has assailed the campaign as sexist, noting that Clinton has an all-but-insurmountable delegate lead and that no other candidate in her position has faced calls to drop out.
“This dynamic will surely be familiar to a lot of women. It is familiar to me. An eminently qualified woman being told to step aside to make room for a less qualified man? Been there, heard that.I’m going to bet that I’m not the only woman who has a problem with people telling a woman who’s winning, and has the best shot to be the first female president, to drop out to make way for a male candidate who is losing and who has nowhere near her level of experience, competency, and preparedness.”
Writer Melissa McEwan, who also serves as editor-in-chief of the feminist blog community Shakesville, noted that the #DropOutHillary attack could have originated either from supporters of Bernie Sanders or from Republican opponents, but said the message is same either way — “A woman who is positioned to win should curb her ambition and go home.”
Others saw the #DropOutHillary movement as a desperate, last-ditch attempt to throw support to Bernie Sanders in a race that he has only a minuscule mathematical chance to win. Though Sanders kept his hope alive after an upset victory in Tuesday’s Indiana primary, his victory was not by a margin large enough to make a meaningful difference on his chances. Sanders would now need big wins in all of the remaining states, including Clinton-friendly grounds like New Jersey.
That also means Bernie Sanders would also need a gigantic win in California to top Hillary Clinton — that is, unless the #DropOutHillary movement is able to somehow gain enough steam to do the work for him.
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]