Last week, Hillary Clinton officially put the email scandal behind her when every major investigation of the situation declared her innocent. Now, the major heads of the DNC have been thrown into an email scandal of their own.
WikiLeaks, the hacktivist/journalist website released approximately 20,000 emails from the Democratic Party's powers that detail the DNC's deliberate attacks on Bernie Sanders and their attempts to influence the election in favor of Hillary Clinton.
This comes as no surprise to many Sanders supporters, as the Senator had long been preaching that the DNC was working against him. The DNC, as well as the RNC, are meant to ensure that the primary elections run smoothly and fairly, and they are meant to remain impartial and unbiased between the different candidates.
Many months ago, Sanders accused the DNC of giving the candidates limited debates (9 Democrats to 12 for the GOP.) This is historically the best way for a fringe candidate to gain popularity, limiting the number of debates ensuring that the American people will be less inclined to join their camp. Sanders also accused the DNC of illegally assisting the Clinton campaign in fundraising.
Now, the leaked emails prove many of these accusations. It proves the corruption and dysfunction of the DNC, and that they actively fought against Bernie Sanders. They used his religion and his stances against him and effectively created the massive schism in the Democratic Party.
While these leaks are extremely important to understand, and will definitely cause pressure and changes, it is important not to let them affect the election. Hillary Clinton is still the best hope for defeating Donald Trump. Unless something wild and unforeseen happens at the Democratic National Convention, Clinton is the nominee for the party.
Despite losing the bid for the White House, Sanders has essentially won every other battle he entered into. Aside from proving the DNC was showing bias, Sanders pushed the party to accept a more progressive platform. And, in light of the email leaks, the DNC agreed to go into massive primary reforms. They agreed to change the rules for future elections to force superdelegates to elect the candidate their constituents voted for, a major problem that assisted in preventing Sanders from reaching the White House.
The most important thing to keep in mind during this scandal is that two things can be true at the same time. In this case: 1) People are allowed to be pissed off over the leaks, and 2) that Hillary Clinton is still the best choice for President.
It's logic at this point. Sanders being elected by a massive write-in campaign would ensure friction between the White House and Congress. Democrats would band together and certainly block President Sanders from many of his proposals, and Sanders would be disgraced and elected out in four years.
A Hillary Presidency is, at this point, the best option for progress. Bernie won the war, but Hillary won the throne. Progress is being made already to fix the corruption and the issues inside the DNC. There are rumors that the leaks are the doing of Russian hackers, hoping it will result in the election of Pro-Russian Donald Trump. Allowing this news to change the course of the election only goes in Trump's favor.
The truth is, the leaks only confirm what America knew all along. It isn't a surprise and it honestly doesn't change anything. it doesn't disqualify Clinton, it doesn't give more delegates to Sanders, it merely shows that our two party system is flawed, corrupt, and crumbling to the ground. The only thing that has changed is that the DNC can be punished for their actions now.
