(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) — In both her new book What Happened and a recent interview she recently conducted, Hillary Clinton blames her 2016 loss on everyone from Bernie Sanders and the Russians to Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
In her latest book, she also compares herself to one of the most loathed characters in modern television history.
Recalling how Trump supporters shouted “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” at rallies for her opponent, she likened it to Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister’s experience at the end of Season 5 (Beware if you aren’t caught up with the show or haven’t yet started — spoilers are coming).
“Crowds at Trump rallies called for my imprisonment more times than I can count,” Clinton says in her book. “They shouted, ‘Guilty! Guilty!’ like the religious zealots in Game of Thrones chanting ‘Shame! Shame!’ while Cersei Lannister walked back to the Red Keep.”
The scene features Cersei, the queen mother, who has been imprisoned for a slew of charges — from incest with her twin brother to killing the former king, her husband — taking a walk of atonement back to the palace, where her youngest son is king of Westeros.
Trump supporters certainly took sadistic glee in their brimming hatred for Hillary Clinton, arguably for many of the wrong reasons. But Clinton’s decision to compare herself to the self-serving, borderline sociopathic Cersei is more appropriate than she likely considered.
Indeed, the implication is that the scorn hurled her direction was largely a result of sexism. She cites a gender studies expert who described the behavior as “almost medieval.”
As Newsweek wrote of the GOT scene:
“The scene was a powerful expression of the power wielded by religion, misogyny toward women, particularly those in power, and the patriarchal shaming of women embracing their sexuality.”
[Note: that sexuality entailed incest with her twin brother and passing their offspring off as the legitimate children and heirs of her husband, King Robert Baratheon, who she had killed.]
Indeed, both the show and the books depict the biases against women and Cersei’s struggle to gain legitimacy as a woman seeking power.
But what’s most telling of Clinton’s comparison is that the growth in the power of the High Sparrow (the religious zealot who authorized her imprisonment and walk of atonement) and his Faith Militant is a direct result of her actions.
“The faith and the crown are the two pillars that hold up this world,” Cersei tells the High Sparrow earlier in the season while attempting to use him as a tool to take down an enemy. “One collapses, so does the other.”
Cersei wielded the Faith Militant against her adversaries, failing to consider the zealots she was empowering might come back to bite her.
Likewise, Clinton’s leaked emails revealed her team sought to elevate Donald Trump as a candidate — among other Republican goons — using him as a “Pied Piper” candidate in order to make her more appealing.
“We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to them seriously,” a memo from her team to the DNC read.
Clearly, this strategy backfired, and Clinton soon became the punching bag for angry, emotional Trump supporters out for her blood.
Clinton is also similar to Cersei in her general deviousness, lust for power, evasion of accountability, and willingness to use violence to achieve her goals.
Ultimately, Clinton no doubt exploited her femininity to attract women voters.
But she still didn’t deserve “shame” simply for being a woman — and there was a good deal of sexism thrown her way.
Still, many Americans would be happy to chant the iconic “Shame! Shame! Shame!” phrase at her over her war mongering to secure her power and subservience to the established order — still more traits she shares with Cersei.
Ironically, Lena Headey, who plays Cersei, previously commented on the scene, noting the brutality her character endured is still a reality for women in some part of the world.
“They still do it now. They take women out and stone them to death,” she said. The Clinton Foundation happily took millions from countries with such practices, and now the Trump Administration has, too.
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