Hulu Tees Up a Second Hillary Series: Meet the Alt-History Tale of Ms. Rodham, No-Nonsense Never-Wife of Bill

AP Photo/Kevin Lamarque, Pool, File
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FILE – In this Oct. 18, 2011, file photo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton checks her Blackberry from a desk inside a C-17 military plane upon her departure from Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, bound for Tripoli, Libya. It’s a photo that became an Internet meme: Hillary Rodham Clinton, wearing sunglasses, staring at her BlackBerry. Now it’s becoming a focal point for Republicans on the House committee that’s investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The chairman, South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy, wants to know why the panel has no emails from the day the photo was taken as Clinton, then the secretary of state, was en route to Tripoli. (AP Photo/Kevin Lamarque, Pool, File)
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Does Hulu stand for “Hillary’s Ultra Liberal Utopia?”

As per Variety, the streaming service is developing a Clinton alt-history drama series, and it’s not their first time at bat for the Bernie basher.

The new show — based on a 2020 fiction novel by Curtis Sittenfield — would imagine a world in which Hillary never marries Bill. Instead, she dives straight into politics herself.

#ModernUpdate

Hulu appears to have a stunning interest in Hil.

First, it released the docuseries Hillary, which IMDB describes as “a look at the life and work of Hillary Rodham Clinton, interweaving biographical chapters of her life with behind-the-scenes footage from her 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.”

According to The Daily Wire, Bernie Sanders gave it Two Thumbs Not Up.

That’s less than a surprise, since the program quoted her as sanding Sanders:

“Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”

Speaking of baloney, some people might have a lunch-meat thing or two to say about the novel, simply titled Rodham (emphasis mine). In May, NPR called it “nauseating.”

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But it’s vomit, with a twist:

Rodham is a nauseating, moving, morally suggestive, technically brilliant book that made me think more than any other in recent memory about the aims and limits of fiction.

Hillary’s early life is the same: the suburban upbringing, Wellesley College, law school at Yale. There she meets the same Bill: charming and unfaithful with, eventually, credible assault allegations against him. But here the story changes: She leaves.

Triumph!

Vox said of the book, it’s “what feminine ambition looks like when it is untethered from a man.”

In Rodham, not only does Hillary not marry Bill, but he doesn’t run for office in 1992. Instead, Slick Willie becomes a tech billionaire before choosing to give the White House a shot — in 2016, against his former flame.

Here’s more from Vox:

In this funhouse mirror version of the 2016 election, Bill becomes an amalgam of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, a dark horse who upsets a primary that was supposed to be a settled matter, a celebrity candidate with outsider cred and an enthusiastic fan base of tech-loving young men. (Bernie himself does not appear in Rodham, which seems uninterested in criticizing Hillary from the left. Trump, though, does.) Bill’s charisma and tech-world sheen make him political Teflon, unhurt by the accusations of sexual misconduct that fly around him, while Hillary finds herself accused of sexual harassment over having a junior staffer shave her legs.

As the election goes on, Bill’s avid young men supporters are overwhelmed with a profound, rootless hatred of Hillary. At his rallies, they begin a chant: “Shut her up!” And Bill, who loves a crowd, reacts with pleasure.

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Sounds like the stage is set for her to enact revenge on reality, followed by credits rolling over her victorious form pointing a lightsaber toward the sky.

So fans of the former First Lady, rejoice — she’s getting what seems to be her wish, and perhaps yours, too: 2016 will never, ever die. It’ll just keep replaying, over and over.

That reminds of a question Essence put to Bernie after the first Clinton show aired:

Asked why Clinton was “still talking about 2016,” he responded, “That is a good question, ask her.”

Yes, ask her. I’m sure she still has so much to say.

-ALEX

 

See more pieces from me:

White House Hammers Hillary After Her Talk Show Taunt of Melania: ‘Her Bitterness and Envy Were on Full Display’

A Gay Journalist Slams Hillary Clinton Over Her Lesbianism Denial

Shoot Fire, He Can’t Catch a Break: Yet Again, Hillary Flames Bern – on a Top Television Show

Hillary: Trump Knows He Really Lost. Joy Behar: ‘He Has Every Criminal Working for Him.’ Baghdad Bob: ‘Saddam Won!’

Find all my RedState work here.

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