Talk emerges that Hillary Clinton is plotting her 2020 comeback

Daily Mail

Hillary Clinton has ramped her public presence and her fundraising appeals in recent weeks, leading to speculation she’s plotting her 2020 comeback and preparing for a rematch with Donald Trump.

The former presidential candidate has been appearing at high-profile events – such as for the Clinton Foundation and at Oxford University – in addition to asking for donations to causes she supports.  

The New York Post notes that five times in the last month alone, Clinton let supporters know her super PAC was working against Trump.

She has stayed at the top of her supporters’ in-box, using events-of-the-day – such as her email railing against Trump’s controversial ‘zero tolerance ‘immigration policy earlier this month – to spread her message.

Using the headlines around Trump’s policy as a rallying cry, Clinton raised more than $1.5 million for migrant children and their families being separated at the border with the money going to several groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.

Half of the donations came from Twitter, with email, Instagram, and Facebook also helping Clinton rake in the cash, Marie Claire reported.

And the day after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, Clinton announced a new partnership with the group Demand Justice.

The group’s focus is on Trump’s judicial nominees, noting on its mission page: ‘Our courts should be the place that we can trust to safeguard our rights and promote justice.’

And Demand Justice’s executive director is Brian Fallon, who served as Clinton’s campaign press secretary during the 2016 contest.

Clinton’s next scheduled public appearance is at the third annual Ozy Fest that takes place July 21 and 22 in Central Park.

She will be interviewed by Laurene Powell Jobs, president and founder of the Emerson Collective, a nonprofit that advocates liberal causes.

Clinton’s larger-than-life name in Democratic Party carries a hefty weight as Democrats have been locked in an ideological fight since the 2016 election with no clear leader emerging to lead the party through the next few years.

Liberals were furious the party establishment worked against Bernie Sanders to ensure Clinton the presidential nomination.

And leftist candidates, such as self-proclaimed socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning upset victory in the New York primary over Rep. Joe Crowley, have emerged this year as a result.

But as Democrats struggle with an identity crisis, it’s not just Clinton who’s looking ahead to the next presidential election and taking on the mantle of Democratic leader.

Multiple Democratic elected officials have stoked the 2020 speculation fires with talk of challenging Trump in two years.

And former President Barack Obama appears to be playing the role of power broker as he’s holding secret meetings with at least nine potential challengers to the sitting president.

The would-be contenders getting one-on-one time with the former commander in chief include Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Obama is also meeting with some lesser tier contenders, such as Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor; Jason Kander, the failed 2016 Missouri Senate candidate; Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana; and Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, who hasn’t been to the Washington office, but got a private meeting when Obama was in Los Angeles in May.

Then there are those rumored to want to run in 2020 who haven’t been through Obama’s door: New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Nevada Senator Kamala Harris and former Virginia GovernorTerry McAuliffe.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker stopped by last year but hasn’t been back since.

Clinton has been more outspoken about Trump’s policies than Obama, who appears to be playing a backroom power-broker type role in the party.

The former secretary of state slammed Trump’s immigration policy at an awards lunch for the Women’s Forum of New York last month.

‘This is a moral and humanitarian crisis,’ Clinton said. ‘Every one of us who’s ever been a parent or a grandparent, an aunt, a big sister, any one of us who’s ever held a child in our arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged.’

The New York Post‘s Michael Goodwin offers these reasons Clinton, who would be 73 at the time of 2020 election, may run yet again: there is no other clear front runner to challenge Trump; she has the name and staying power to emerge from a diverse field of contenders; she could fight off any Democratic challenge on their home turf – challenging would-be contenders from California or New York in their own states; and money is not an issue given Clinton’s proven ability to raise the funds she needs to run a campaign.

In 2016, her campaign committee raised $563.75 million, according to Open Secrets.

And the former secretary of state has publicly indicated what happened in 2016 remains at the forefront of her mind.

In a speech to Oxford University in late June, Clinton bemoaned the American electoral college system that saw her win the popular vote in 2016 but lose the presidency.

‘Populists can stay in power by mobilizing a fervent base. Now, there are many other lessons like this, she said, adding that she had ‘my personal experience with winning three million more votes but still losing.’

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