Hillary Clinton's Machiavellian moment

Email is dangerous. One is tempted to write things that one would never say in person. And email is forever. Even a deleted email is still there somewhere. People can keep the emails you send and use your words against you later. Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister to Louis XIII of France, said, “Never write a letter and never destroy one.” Bill Clinton reportedly has written only two emails in his life. Hillary Clinton has been busy destroying hers.

Hillary Clinton’s refusal to use a State Department email address while serving as secretary of state was a brazen violation of the law and in that way a puzzling compromise of her political ambitions. She installed the home server for her private account immediately after her Senate confirmation in 2009. At the same time, regulations were already in effect requiring all government officials to use official government email addresses secured on government servers.

In her news conference last Tuesday, Clinton claimed it was a matter of the convenience of not having to carry two devices, one for her personal messages and one for State Department communication. But this made no sense. Presumably everyone faces this inconvenience, but the law is the law. Also, she told an interviewer two weeks before that she carries an iPhone and a BlackBerry. Apparently, multi-device living is not a problem for her. Upon leaving government service, she was required by law to sign a statement that she had turned all official communications over the government, but there is no evidence, or even claim, of her having signed this.

So why did she do it? Hillary Clinton watchers observe that she is intensely concerned about control, in this case who can later review her communications. This is the defining feature of a Machiavellian. The 16th century political theorist whose name is synonymous with the devil (Old Nick) observed that the successful prince leaves as little as possible to the winds of fortune.

The prince wants his people to love him and fear him. But if he must choose between these, he opts for their fear, because whereas people love you at their convenience, they fear you at your convenience. You control it. The prince trusts no one. All of life is warfare, ultimately the conquest of fortune or chance. He cannot rest until he controls everything. And so he never rests and is perpetually at war with everyone and everything. Of course, the most successfully vanquished do not even realize how subjugated they are. Thorough deception is the most complete conquest.

There is a growing bibliography on the Machiavellianism of the Clintons. But if Hillary Clinton is a Machiavellian, she is a poor one. The most successful fraud is the one that goes undiscovered. The well-used lie doesn’t need burying by subsequent lies, each one harder to conceal than the previous one. The most adept prince is constantly deceiving people but enjoys the highest reputation for honesty and public service. This is not Mrs. Clinton.

You can’t defend against the accomplished Machiavellian because his selfishness is invisible. But voters are without excuse for not weeding out the clumsy and obvious ones.