Since her husband was first elected president in 1992, Hillary Clinton has proved adept at blaming everyone (but herself) for the negative things in her life, from "lies" about Bill Clinton's fidelity (remember "the vast right-wing conspiracy?") to her humiliating defeat by Donald Trump.  This habit began the long-running hit TV show — It's All Your Fault, which was wildly popular among liberals and feminists through most of the 1990s. 

She reprised her role beginning in 2016 with a popular one-woman show, It's Still All Your Fault.  Here she blamed her defeat on such liberal icons as Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, the Democratic National Committee, James Comey, and the New York Times, to blame a few.  She also blamed sexism and misogyny, gullible Americans, WikiLeaks and Vladimir Putin and Russia, her campaign staff, the debate questions (including, presumably, those leaked to her by CNN), as well as political journalists and TV coverage and campaign financing, among many others.

Proving that the acorn didn't fall far from the tree, Chelsea Clinton is now blaming Donald Trump, personally, for each of the 200,000 American deaths from COVID-19.  The former first daughter — who made her millions working for the family businesses (Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative) as well as serving as an extremely well paid member of large corporate boards — proudly assumed her mother's mantle.  On Tuesday of this week, she appeared on The View for the purpose of laying blame at the feet of President Trump.

"I blame him pretty fundamentally," she said.  "I think it is unconscionable that he lied to the American public about COVID, that he continues to lie to the American people, and that he has such a blatant disregard for public health and the advice from public health experts."

I guess she just forgot some of President Trump's decisive early actions, such as suspending air travel from China — bitterly criticized at the time by Democrats, but since proved to be a sound quarantine procedure.  And I'm sure it was just an oversight that she overlooked the role Dr. Tony Fauci, M.D. played in guiding the president's response to this national disaster.  In July, Fauci — America's top virologist and a key member of the White House Task Force on COVID-19 — was endorsed once by nearly 3,500 public health experts, and another time by 12,000 medical doctors, research scientists, and public health experts on the front lines of the COVID-19 campaign.  

Apparently, the president is listening to expert advice.  It could be only an accident, then, that Ms. Clinton forgot those months of daily press briefings, which continued until literally all Americans had access to the latest efforts to combat the disease.  I guess when you're a silver-spoon millionaire public health dilettante, it can be hard to keep all those nasty little facts straight.

Continuing on her tirade against President Trump, and reminding people that she is, indeed, her mother's daughter, Chelsea said, "I blame him, full stop.  I also blame him for what he's not doing to help prepare for when scientists have proven a vaccine is safe and effective at scale."  Gotta love those buzzwords.  She concluded by saying, "I blame him for not having a transparent national plan," apparently forgetting that the Trump administration has been transparent in reporting to the American people about progress made, as well as hopes for a safe and effective vaccine. 

Clearly, despite Ms. Clinton's protestations, there is a plan — a detailed COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Strategy, which was released to the public on September 16 on the president's behalf by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Perhaps Chelsea could have done a bit more research before making her baseless, blame-filled charges.  But then again, why should she?  Her mom never did.  She even wrote a book about it, What Happened, which firmly placed the blame for her humiliating electoral defeat on — well, everybody (except herself).  Perhaps Chelsea is planning a new book, too. 

Like mother, like daughter.

Ned Barnett is a longtime political commentator and campaign strategist, who owns Barnett Marketing Communications in Las Vegas.  He has served — at the state level — as director of media and strategy for three presidential campaigns.

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