The Enigma of Hillary as Enabler

It is widely acknowledged that Hillary has become an enabler of her husband Bill’s sexual depredations, but few have examined the enigma of the enabler: namely, what would cause someone to become one?

At first glance, we may be tempted to consider Hillary to be a kind of pimp, similar perhaps to the Mayflower Madam. The Mayflower Madam, Sydney Biddle Barrows, ran a prostitution agency with expensive girls and high-paying clients. She boasted that she used modern marketing techniques to win clients and procure “talent.” But we know what she got out of the deal: money.

She got Bill for life in exchange for facilitating his behavior and, whenever it became necessary, going after the victims of that behavior.

If Hillary were a pimp, she would be a special kind of pimp, renting out a single gigolo who happens to be her husband. Yet Bill is not a gigolo: He doesn’t charge for his services. Moreover, Hillary neither procures Bill’s sexual partners nor does she directly profit from them.

So the pimp analogy, tempting thought it is, doesn’t really work. We still have to figure out why Hillary has devoted her life to enabling Bill’s sex crimes and offenses.

What does it mean to be an enabler? The conventional wisdom is that enablers are indulgent people who make it possible for others to act upon their weaknesses or addictions. Think of the mother who knows her son is an alcoholic and feels sorry for him. Even though she knows that it’s bad for him to drink, she lets him, and this of course sustains his addiction and makes his condition worse.

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In the psychological literature, this is known as a passive or indulgent enabler. But there is another type of enabler, one that actually creates addictions. This is the active or initiating enabler. Think of a mother who doesn’t want her son to leave home. She knows that in the ordinary course of things, he is likely to get a job, meet a woman, and move out of the house.

She knows he likes to drink, so she regularly has alcohol in the house. She encourages him to have one, and then another, and then another. Her goal is to make him into an alcoholic. Why? Because then she knows he cannot move out. He is unlikely to be able to find a woman and hold a job. He becomes forever dependent on her, and this is the way she wants it.

Now which type of enabler is Hillary Clinton? Here the progressive or left-wing answer is: the first kind, the indulgent enabler. In this scenario Bill is the bad guy. He has a problem, and Hillary, because she married him, has to endure that problem. So Hillary makes the best of it, trying to curb Bill’s excesses while still holding together their marriage.

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In this view Hillary is the devoted wife, fiercely protective of her flawed husband.  Even if she is guilty of some sort of complicity, Hillary is, at worst, a passive enabler. “Tolerating Bill’s weakness,” says Hillary’s pal Susan Thomases, “has always been part of her relationship with him.”

Thomases knows that passive enabling does not imply inaction; it sometimes requires the enablers to play a theatrical role. When Bill’s abuse of another woman is publicly discovered, for example, Hillary must pretend to be outraged, though in reality she always knew about Bill’s conduct.

She must also refuse to be seen with him, showing her “normal reaction” to his supposed betrayal. Even Chelsea and the family dog must be photographed practicing Bill avoidance. Hillary, Chelsea, and the dog are seen together, and Bill is seen all by himself, with a very forlorn expression. This may be called the “leaving Bill in the doghouse” or “taking Bill to the woodshed” phase.

Finally, the two of them must walk hand-in-hand on the beach, signifying reconciliation. They may even dance a few steps together, the loving couple somehow getting through it all. The press goes along with it, in the sycophantic manner reminiscent of courtiers before the French Dauphin. But no one actually believes it; most people know they are witnessing the pathetic, hypocritical performance of the passive enabler.

But a second possibility — never considered — is that Hillary is an active enabler. She doesn’t just endure Bill’s abuse; she abets it. Of course she didn’t create Bill’s problem, but she also sees how she can benefit from it. She needs Bill not as a husband but as a lifelong partner in crime. And Bill profits from the arrangement because Hillary has agreed to become his collaborator and cover-up artist. His sexual addiction is safe with her.

So Bill has, over time, become dependent on Hillary. That’s why he’s still out there in his dotage, campaigning for her. Otherwise Bill would be long gone at this point. By making Bill reliant on her — emotionally and politically — Hillary has over decades secured a marriage that was never really a marriage. She got Bill for life in exchange for facilitating his behavior and, whenever it became necessary, going after the victims of that behavior.

What is the character of a person who becomes a sexual enabler? We get an early glimpse into this question from 1975, when Hillary Clinton defended a man, Thomas Alfred Taylor, who was accused of beating and raping a 12-year-old girl. A virgin prior to the attack, she spent five days in a coma, several months recovering from her injuries, and years in therapy.

The most chilling aspect of Hillary’s voice is her indifference — even bemusement — at getting a man off after he raped a 12-year-old.

Even people who are accused of heinous crimes deserve criminal representation. Hillary’s strategy in defending Taylor, however, was to blame the teenage victim. According to an affidavit filed by Hillary, children who come from “disorganized families such as the complainant” sometimes “exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences.” Hillary suggested the girl was “emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing.”

Here Hillary seems to be echoing what Bernie Sanders wrote in his rape fantasy essay. Bernie implied that women have a secret wish to be forcibly raped. In this case, however, the girl certainly didn’t dream up the assault and rape. There was physical evidence that showed she had been violated, and she was beaten so badly she was in a coma. Prosecutors had in their possession a bloodied pair of Taylor’s underwear.

But fortunately for Hillary and her client, the forensic lab mishandled the way that evidence was preserved. At the time of trial, the state merely had a pair of Taylor’s underwear with a hole cut in it. Hillary plea bargained on behalf of Taylor and got him released without having to do any additional time. A tape unearthed by The Washington Free Beacon has Hillary celebrating the outcome. “Got him off with time served in the county jail,” she says.

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Did Hillary believe that, in this case, justice was done? Certainly not. On the tape, Hillary admits she never trusted her client. “Course he claimed he didn’t, and all this stuff.” So she decided to verify his story. “I had him take a polygraph, which he passed — which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs.” And here Hillary emits a creepy laugh.

Clearly Hillary knows her client is guilty, and this fact doesn’t bother her. The most chilling aspect of Hillary’s voice is her indifference — even bemusement — at getting a man off after he raped a 12-year-old. The episode is a revealing look into the soul of an enabler.

Yet this is the same Hillary who was honored in September 2013 by the Children’s Defense Fund for being a “tireless voice for children.” One begins to see here what such awards actually mean. Hillary’s actual prize should have been for the facilitation of adult abuse of women and young girls. Her rape case turned out to be excellent preparation for her lifelong advocacy of a single sex offender — Bill.

This article is excerpted from Dinesh D’Souza’s new book “Hillary’s America.” The book, and an accompanying film of the same title, will both be out this month. For details see hillarysamericathemovie.com and hillarysamericathebook.com.