“The acquittal of Clinton, and the forgiving by implication of his abuses of public power... has placed future crooked presidents in a strong position."
Title: No One Left to Lie to
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Pages: 338
Published by: Verso (1999)
Bill Clinton is a bad, bad man.
At least, that’s the impression one takes away from No One Left to Lie to.
Reading Hitchens’ account of the Clinton presidency, I’m reminded of the media coverage of President Trump’s impeachment, whose well-documented and heinous crimes against America are perceived to be unprecedented.
And yet reading No One Left to Lie to, Trump’s behaviour and abuse of public office seems, to the contrary, to be wholly precedented.
Clinton may not stand accused of provoking an insurrection, but his use of executive power to salvage personal reputation at the expense of respect to the electorate feels remarkably familiar to a 2020s reader.
Clinton’s Kryptonite
The central premise of No One Left to Lie to is Bill Clinton’s political triangulation and perceived dishonesty in the public eye.
Triangulation is a form of aloof centrism, claiming a tenuous moral high ground without any substantial grounding. It involves borrowing ideas from each political wing – not for the good of the nation, but more cynical reasons around political expediency.
It’s a revisionist take on the Democratic heyday of the 1990s from a journalist and writer who, much like his literary hero George Orwell, possessed that rare quality of eluding the binary boundaries of both the liberal Left and the conservative Right.
Christopher Hitchens defined himself as a leftist and a remnant of the international working class movement. Less swayed by binary political allegiance, Hitchens’ world views were shaped more by an internal moral compass – again, very much like Orwell.
'Hitchens was one of the very few people who could slash and burn you in print, then meet for drinks and talk in the true warmth of friendship, discussing a writer we both admired, garrulous to the very last. It was a sign of his essential decency that he didn’t make it personal.'
For example, Hitchens’ unwavering support for the Iraq War was a flashpoint between him and comrades on the Left, whilst his excoriating critiques of figures like the late Reverend Jerry Falwell drew the ire of the political right.
Of course, this didn’t make him infallible.
Is No One Left to Lie to a Reliable Text?
Hitchens is no stranger to polemical writing that challenges the reputation of seemingly untouchable public figures, such as Henry Kissinger and the late Princess Diana. He even branded Mother Teresa a ‘thieving, fanatical Albanian dwarf‘.
Regardless of one’s views on Hitchens’ polemics, No One Left to Lie To was a bold book to write in 1999, considering the accusations levelled against President Clinton.
Openly accusing Clinton of rape on multiple occasions and including detailed witness accounts, Hitchens dismantles the carefully curated mask fostered by Clinton.
The stronger parts of No One Left to Lie to reside in the chapters dedicated to Clinton’s wielding of foreign policy. Hitchens argues that foreign policy under the Clinton administration was used both as a cudgel to flex US military supremacy and a shield to distract from criticism back home.
And with a number of sources close to the then-President, it’s a damning picture.
“By Tuesday, December 15, after Clinton’s last-ditch nonapology had “bombed” like all its predecessors, every headline had every waverer deciding for impeachment after all. On Wednesday afternoon, the president announced that Saddam Hussein was, shockingly enough, not complying with the UN inspectorate.
And the cruise missiles took wing again. Within hours, the House Republicans had met and, “furious and fractured,” according to the New York Times, had announced the postponement of the impeachment debate, due to begin on Thursday morning.”
The stronger parts of No One Left to Lie to reside in the chapters dedicated to Clinton’s wielding of foreign policy. Hitchens argues that foreign policy under the Clinton administration was used both as a cudgel to flex US military supremacy and a shield to distract from criticism back home.
And with a number of sources close to the then-President, it’s a damning picture.
Final Thoughts
Whilst Hitchens was a great writer and rhetorician, this was not ‘The Hitch’ at the peak of his powers. It’s overly wordy for such a brief text, and his prose lacks the wit and fluidity found in later books such as god is Not Great.
Regardless, No One Left to Lie To remains a powerful contrarian viewpoint and a sensational polemic against a much-loved former US President.
But to get the most out of this book, it’s imperative to leave political biases at the door and judge on the evidence contained within.
A must-read piece of political journalism.