No, Hillary Clinton Isn't A Republican

Some on the left who oppose Hillary Clinton have been peddling the incorrect assertion that she's no different than a Republican. Make no mistake — Clinton is indeed more conservative than a lot of Democrats. Her positions on military intervention and Wall Street regulation aren’t nearly as liberal as those held by Bernie Sanders, for example. However, Clinton is most definitely not a Republican, and the suggestion that she’d be right at home in the GOP has no basis in objective reality.

A similar dynamic to this plays out all the time on the right. Republican officials who stray from the party line even a little bit are branded RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and sometimes kicked out of office by conservative voters as a result. Even powerful and reliably conservative lawmakers in the GOP occasionally suffer this fate.

Some on the left are now taking a similar view towards Clinton, calling her an apostate for voting to authorize the Iraq War, or supporting the 1994 Crime Bill. But when assessing a politician’s ideology, it’s important to look at the totality of their positions, not just one or two. By any rational definition, Clinton is a dyed-in-the wool Democrat (and no, the fact that she was a Republican when she was 19 doesn’t negate this). Here’s the proof:

Campaign Finance

Hillary Clinton wants a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling and has said that she’ll appoint Supreme Court justices with this goal in mind.

The GOP opposes any effort to overturn Citizens United on the grounds that it would “discourage Americans from exercising their constitutional right to enter the political fray.”

Minimum Wage

Hillary Clinton believes the federal minimum wage should be increased to at least $12 per hour, and has said she’d sign legislation making it $15 per hour.

The GOP does not want to raise the minimum wage, and Trump believes that wages are “too high” as is.

Taxes

Hillary Clinton wants to impose a 30 percent tax on Americans earning $1 million dollars a year, an additional 4 percent tax on people who earn more than $5 million a year, and increase the estate tax.

Donald Trump wants to cap all income tax rates at 25 percent and eliminate the estate tax.

Reproductive Rights

Hillary Clinton is pro-choice and believes that abortion should be safe and legal. As such, she supports federal funding of Planned Parenthood.

The GOP wants to ban all abortions at the Constitutional level and defund Planned Parenthood.

Wall Street Regulation

Hillary Clinton supports the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. This includes the powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was conceived and established by Elizabeth Warren.

Republicans oppose Dodd-Frank and tried to kill the CFPB before it was created.

Same-Sex Marriage

Hillary Clinton supports every American’s right to marry whomever they love, regardless of gender.

The Republican Party opposes same-sex marriage.

Immigration

Hillary Clinton supports comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to full citizenship, health insurance access for undocumented workers, an end to family detention and an expansion of President Obama’s deferred deportation programs for certain immigrants.

Donald Trump wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants, and ban Muslims from entering America.

The Keystone XL Pipeline

Hillary Clinton opposes the Keystone XL pipeline.

Republicans support the Keystone XL pipeline.

Obamacare

Hillary Clinton supports Obamacare and wants to expand it by making more people eligible for coverage under the law.

Republicans want to repeal Obamacare entirely.

Global Warming

Hillary Clinton believes that “climate change is an urgent threat and defining challenge of our time.”

The Republican Party’s official policy platform doesn’t include the words “climate change” or “global warming” anywhere.

U.S.-Iranian Relations

Hillary Clinton supports the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump says that that his “number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran,” and the Republican Senate agrees.