Hillary Bullies Online Critics

Somebody call the wambulance, because Hillary Clinton just found out that not everyone likes her — especially on social media.

How does the flawed and unlikable candidate (who’s setting new records with her unfavorability levels) plan to make herself more popular? By deploying a pro-Clinton super PAC to spend $1 million to go after meanies on Twitter and Facebook in the hopes of making them like her.

The project is called Barrier Breakers and is operated by Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton super PAC. Barrier Breakers is meant to confront those on both sides of the political spectrum who are “spreading lies and misleading narratives about Secretary Hillary Clinton.”

They’ll work to target those who personally attack Clinton, according to a press release from Correct the Record. “The task force currently combats online political harassment, having already addressed more than 5,000 individuals who have personally attacked Secretary Clinton on Twitter.”

Apparently, it took a full year of campaigning for Clinton to realize that she has social media vulnerabilities and that her critics, whether Democrat or Republican, are more engaged than her supporters. While Clinton believes that she is hip, cool, and likable, she suffers from trying too hard. Voters have already seen the sheer awkwardness in her inorganic attempts to relate to everyday people — e.g., the NYC subway incident, the awkward stop at Chipotle, and the cringeworthy moment when she tried to “dab” on national television. Now, this.

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Soon, there will be a flood of rebuttals tagged #correcttherecord. It’s the official tag of Barrier Breakers, but anyone can use it (making for even more fun, potentially). Already, people have started the tag #MillionDollarTrolls, and they’re having some fun with Hillary (they seem to be backing Bernie Sanders).

The decision to create the Barrier Breakers task force was spurred on by the upcoming general election, even though Clinton still hasn’t cleared her primary hurdle. But it is no secret that she has lost the social media war to Bernie Sanders, as he’s attracted many young people to his campaign. His supporters have been tireless advocates for him on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels — deploying the organic hashtag of #FeelTheBern.

Undoubtedly, as the race moves closer toward the general election, Clinton is faced with the giant elephant in the room — Donald Trump — who has a large and in-your-face social media presence. However, the decision was met with mixed reactions by Democrats. Once the news broke #MillionDollarTroll started trending on Twitter — not a good sign for the campaign trying to boost its social media image.

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“I would say that this approach certainly could lead to criticism of the Clinton campaign as being inauthentic, but it’s also critical that Clinton allies fight back against all of the bad information floating around about her personally and her policies,” said Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic strategist. “This remains one of her greatest obstacles to winning over voters, and though it isn’t a replacement for the kind of grassroots movement Sanders has built, it’s an important — and smart — decision for Correct the Record to do this.”

Others see it as just an extension of the Clinton money machine out to prevent any challenger, whether Sanders or Trump, from gaining momentum.

“This is just one more wing of their dark money propaganda machine. There are no limits to what Clintons and the Clinton machine will do,” said Nomiki Konst, a Democratic strategist. “The problem with the Clintons is while they can control [the] Establishment and mechanics of electoral politics, they can’t control freedom of speech at the grassroots level — mainly on the Internet.”