On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press political show with Chuck Todd, veteran reporter Tom Brokaw raised questions about Hillary Clinton’s fitness to assume the office of the presidency and highlighted the damage that has been wrought on social media following the incident in light of a steady campaign by Republicans who have questioned her physical and mental stability throughout the campaign.
That campaign, once dismissed as a fanatical conspiracy theory sideshow became mainstream only hours after Hillary Clinton wobbled and appeared to convulse in front of a black van until a team of a half dozen staffers rushed in to prevent the former Secretary of State from falling face first into the pavement.
Republicans have long attempted to paint the Former First Lady as physically unable to perform her duties pointing to an array of photos featuring handlers helping her walk up the stairs and images of her stumbling that many in the mainstream argued were deceptive and failed to provide the full context of the incidents as still shot photos are known to do.
Those concerns became more heated after a video emerged of Hillary Clinton shaking uncontrollably in front of a pool of reporters for 30 seconds with her eyes even dilating all the way to appear full black – the incident even caused one of the reporters to grimace in fear. That incident went unreported, but quickly went viral after being posted on YouTube.
Thereafter there have been multiple coughing fits by the former Secretary of State including a massive 5 minute long stretch at a rally last week that left onlookers in horror as she gasped for breath and fought through to say words in a hushed voice. She blamed the incident at the time on allergies.
Clinton does have a health history that some leading health professionals have called "disconcerting at best" including hypothyroidism and a previous blood clot in her brain following a concussion in 2012 – the incident came at the end of Hillary Clinton’s term as Secretary of State and by her own admission she had a tough time remembering incidents that occurred in the months following the traumatic brain injury.
Still, the suggestion that Hillary Clinton may not be physically able to fulfill her duties coming from a vaunted, and very mainstream, journalist such as Tom Brokaw places the Clinton campaign in unchartered territory as they attempt to downplay the magnitude of the incident blaming it on "dehydration."
Brokaw was careful not to suggest that he believed that her health condition was advanced even going to great lengths not to insinuate that she could be suffering from a serious ailment, but warned that given the visibility of the incident and her health history that she needs to receive an authoritative clean bill of health for the voting public to be satisfied that she is up to the task of being the next president.
"We are already seeing today the social media activity that is going on. I think that she should go to a hospital and see a neurologist and get a clean report if it is available to her," said Brokaw. "This is not something that can be done at her daughter’s apartment at the context of where we are."
