In the eyes of many Americans, Democratic politicians have a particular habit of publicly accusing Republicans of doing the same things the same sort of things that they routinely do.
That is known as "projection," but according to failed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, it is her arch-rival and nemesis former President Donald Trump who is guilty of engaging in such projection, the Inquisitr reported.
Rather ironically, Clinton's accusation of projection against Trump is itself a clear-cut example of such hypocritical duplicity.
HuffPost reported in September that former Secretary of State Clinton, who also previously served as a first lady and U.S. senator, joined MSNBC host -- and former White House press secretary -- Jen Psaki for an interview that included a discussion of former President Trump.
"You know, the thing about [Trump] -- and I’m not the only person who’s noticed this -- is he engaged in what psychologists call projection," Clinton said.
"So, whenever he accuses somebody else of doing something, it’s almost guaranteed he’s doing it himself or he’s already done it," she added. "Or whenever he denies thinking about doing something or doing it, it’s almost guaranteed he is thinking about it or he’s already done it."
What Clinton was specifically referencing there, according to HuffPost, was statements made during an interview Trump had given about a week earlier with Kristen Welker of NBC News about the persistent rumors that he might issue a pardon for himself if re-elected as president in 2024.
"I think it’s very unlikely. What, what did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything wrong," the former president said. "You mean because I challenge an election, they want to put me in jail?"
Trump, of course, is facing dozens of federal and state-level charges in four separate criminal indictments, several of which are scheduled to go to trial during the heart of his re-election campaign next year and which will undoubtedly still be pending or in the appeals process after the election is held.
"People said, 'Would you like to pardon yourself?' I had a couple of attorneys that said, 'You can do it if you want,'" Trump told Welker. "I had some people that said, 'It would look bad if you do it, because I think it would look terrible.'"
"Let me just tell you. I said, 'The last thing I’d ever do is give myself a pardon,'" he added about conversations in early 2021 before he left office. "I could have had a pardon done that would have saved me all of these lawyers and all of this -- these fake charges, these Biden indictments."
Clinton was not buying Trump's claim that he was "unlikely" to try to pardon himself if re-elected for the presidency again in 2024, according to The Hill.
"I don’t believe him on anything," she told Psaki in that September interview. "Why should I start believing him on that?"
As for Clinton's own habits of "projection," one can only wonder if she had previously planned on issuing preemptive pardons for herself if she had won the 2016 election and is now accusing Trump of seeking to do the same thing.
