this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
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[–] BananaTrifleViolin 22 points 6 days ago (1 children)

We don't know if she knew before the scandals broke but there is no reason to think she didn't believe them after they broke.

In terms of her standing by him, this is not really a historian question in the sense that there is not really a definitive answer if you're looking for one. However one narrative about the Clintons that is popular is that they were both very politically active and ambitious, and that his fidelity may have been less important to Hillary Clinton than their political careers and the presidency.

However it is impossibly to know the truth as we cannot get into the mind of Hiliary Clinton to know how it effected her personally or how important it was to her. Perhaps she will release a memoir or diaries will be released after she dies for future historians to try to grapple with this.

It is also a highly politicised topic as the Republicans led by Newt Gingrich tried hard to weaponise the events around Monica Lewinski and impeach Bill Clinton. This taints the perspectives on the issues on both sides of the political divide.

[–] Doomsider 2 points 5 days ago

How far we have come. From a President that lied under oath about a sexual encounter to a President who paid for sex with a pornstar then used campaign money to squash the story before an election.

All that outrage and now crickets. It is almost like it was just a show all along.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Yeah, there's no current definitive answer because neither of them have disclosed much in the way of their thoughts and feelings on the matter. Even if they had, it would still be debatable if it was truth, or something said more as a narrative because even the best politicians are damn liars in that regard. They'll spin a narrative out of the thinnest filament of truth and end up with a thick cloak of malarkey.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

I doubt anyone knows for sure, but she stuck with him after it all came out. Also, she's not dumb. I'm sure she knew.

[–] Skyrmir 4 points 5 days ago

She knew, but it wasn't important to her. Bill was a known philanderer before he was governor. They both agreed on their politics and ambition from the beginning, and that's all that mattered to their marriage. She would have left him for joining the GoP, not for cheating on her.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

There were rumors in the 1990s that she had her own stuff going on; not sure if that had any truth to it; but they were remarkably alike in their aggression and viewpoints

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart -5 points 6 days ago

I didn’t know he had lesions.