Failed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton knows a thing or two about being part of a family that is shrouded by secrecy and shame, which made a recent public sighting of her rather ironic in light of what she was seen carrying.
The former secretary of State was spotted on Monday in New York City carrying a book that documents the "shame and secrecy" of a particular family, the Daily Mail reported.
Though the book was not about her own family, the observation nonetheless provided fodder for a rehashing of some of the more secretive and shameful scandals involving the Clinton family over the years.
According to the Daily Mail, Hillary Clinton was seen in Manhattan on Monday fresh from a lengthy holiday vacation in various parts of Latin America and was spotted carrying a book with a title that was seemingly applicable to her own family.
The book, titled "Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy," was published in 2022 by author Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a feminist activist who co-founded the "Ms." magazine with fellow activist Gloria Steinham in the 1970s.
Pogrebin's book, the title of which is the Yiddish word for "shame" or "disgrace," recounts the author's upbringing in a Jewish family in America and "the fiercely-guarded lies and intricate cover-ups" of various members from multiple generations over several decades.
The Daily Mail took the title of the book Hillary Clinton was carrying and deemed it applicable to her own family, most especially with the recent unsealing of documents from an earlier lawsuit related to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which served to resurrect the fact that Epstein, once a wealthy Democratic financier, was allegedly close friends with former President Bill Clinton.
The former president is known to have traveled multiple times on Epstein's private jet and is believed to have made multiple visits to Epstein's private island in the Caribbean, but at least thus far, there is no concrete evidence to prove that Clinton ever engaged in sexual activities with underage girls.
That alleged linkage between Epstein and President Clinton is far from the only secretive or shameful episode in the scandal-ridden history of the Clinton family, however.
While there are several to choose from, one of the biggest and earliest examples of the Clinton family's shame and secrecy was President Clinton's secret affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky that was exposed -- and led to his impeachment when he lied about it to investigators -- as part of a special prosecutor's probe into questionable real estate dealings by the first family.
The president was ultimately acquitted and his first lady remained by his side, even as the scandalous affair has stuck with them ever since.
Another point of secrecy and shame for the Clinton family are several alleged scandals involving the Clinton Foundation, including selling political access, accepting donations from shady foreign actors and nations, and broad allegations of influence-peddling and favors delivered in exchange for donations, among other things.
More personally for Hillary, there was the 2015-2016 scandal involving her secretive use of a private email server to conduct government business -- a likely violation of certain federal laws and State Department rules for which she managed to sidestep any legal accountability.
To her everlasting shame, however, American voters seemingly held Clinton accountable in 2016 when they voted to elect Donald Trump instead of her to be the 45th president of the United States, an ignominious moment in U.S. history that she will never be able to escape from.
