Chelsea Manning Runs For Senate But The Web Is Unsure About It All
Chelsea Manning is one of the names that made headlines during the Obama administration.
Formerly known as Bradley Manning, the transgender who was sentenced to prison for leaking 700,000 classified documents back in 2010 to Wikileaks, Chelsea Manning is now running for Senate.
Former President Barack Obama commuted her sentence from 35 years to life down to only four months. Now, Manning is coming back to the spotlight after she announced her new bid for the senatorial race.
According to BBC, the 30-year-old will challenge Democratic Senator Ben Cardin for the nomination. Manning’s petition to run was filed on Jan. 11, which means she will be one of the four candidates to vie for the position.
Though Manning has the strengths to represent Democratic constituents, with her having a background in the LGBT community, military community, and academia, there are still a lot of negative feedback on her run.
Others look at Manning and see a positive change in the Senate. A Twitter user noted Manning’s leaks were an act of courage and this is what they need from their senators. Another user also noted Cardin’s cards against Manning and said that his chances look “pretty grim” compared to the outspoken activist.
Meanwhile, there are those who believe Manning’s past decisions may reflect how she will be running the Democratic office if she wins. Since she has put millions of Americans in jeopardy by releasing sensitive information to the public, this boils down to her trustworthiness and reliability.
Former congressman Joe Walsh took to Twitter to lash out against blatantly transphobic comments, according to Romper.
Another user, Dani Bostick, also said Manning’s run is not something that she could support. Bostick’s husband was in the military and she said the way Manning outed that classified information showed incompetence on her part.
In her first interview, Manning was asked about the oath she took when she was in the military to defend the constitution and protecting classified information. For Manning, it was not a betrayal of oath, but she stood by an ethical decision.
Manning released the leaks after finding videos of American soldiers open firing on what has been reported to be civilians in a certain war vicinity.
“I stopped seeing just statistics and information and I started seeing people.”
Ungrateful TRAITOR Chelsea Manning, who should never have been released from prison, is now calling President Obama a weak leader. Terrible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
Manning believed this information should be shared with the public and soldiers and their seniors should be held accountable.
Manning still has a lot of detractors to convince. If she wins, this could be a strong push for the Democratic party to ally themselves with Manning’s supporters. This would also upset the GOP’s status quo, whose extreme conservatism is dividing the country’s perspective on the LGBT community.
