“Hillary 1984” is like Bob Corker’s Ad against Harold Ford, Jr.

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Have you seen Hillary 1984? You’ve got to. It’s brilliant. About 1.3 million people have already seen it. It’s the advent of a new political era. The minute-and-a-half-long clip, spliced from an Apple commercial from Super Bowl, shows hundreds of men as just ashen drones marching in line and then sitting down before a screen under Hillary’s head talking, detached from her body. Everything is gray and lifeless. The only dash of color at all is when a busty blonde wearing only a white tank and orange shorts—a Hooters girls outfit but with only one “O” in the logo over her chest—runs through the crowd of men and hurls a javelin at Hillary’s head, shattering the screen, spreading light everywhere.

Yep, it’s brilliant. And lefty bloggers are cheering it as the advent of “open-source politics” because it’s on YouTube. What none of them have mentioned is the reason why it’s so effective: It exploits subconscious bigotry, just like the ad for now-U.S. Senator Bob Corker in October. Since blacks weren’t recognized as fully human, this country used to have special laws for them. Black men could not sleep with white women, but it was fine the other way around (even the president did). Black men with white women is still taboo—that’s why broadcasting a blonde actress crooning, “I met Harold at the Playboy party…. Harry [wink], call me!!” was enough to derail Harold Ford, Jr.’s, campaign. The racism operated subtly and subconsciously enough to change the minds of people who would never admit to being racist. Lefties pointed that out, but not as loudly as they should have. Ford lost.

Likewise, women weren’t recognized as fully human in this country until recently, and modern society still has a taboo against women holding power. Lefty bloggers who don’t think Hillary has the charisma to win the general election may be happy that this ad will derail her in the primary. But they look like hypocrites unless they stop cheering for a moment to mention that the ad exploits subconscious fears. That goes for you too, Arianna Huffington—author of On Becoming Fearless. “Hillary 1984” is as un-Democratic as the ad against Harold Ford was.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

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