What’s going on with Bill and Hillary Clinton these days? Oh, nothing much. She’s just planning for his passing.
According to RadarOnline, Hillary Clinton has already begun planning an elaborate memorial service for her husband at the Washington National Cathedral, complete with a traditional funeral mass. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, is reportedly doing some planning of his own — including making changes to his $120 million will, with insiders speculating there could be “real surprises” when it comes out who’s named in it. Library interns, apparently, may be among those worth watching.
Presidential historian Leon Wagener offered a detail about Bill’s daily life that explains a great deal. “He lives there most of the time because, for one thing, he stays away from Hillary,” Wagener said of the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. “That’s his hideout.”
Clinton’s health history is extensive. Sepsis in 2021 after a urinary tract infection spread to his bloodstream. Quadruple bypass surgery in 2004. A stent procedure in 2010. He was seen traveling last year with what appeared to be a portable defibrillator.
Cardiologist Dr. Stuart Fischer, who has not treated Clinton, said the former president could be “at risk for a cardiac rhythm disturbance,” particularly under stress. “Psychological stress has a very direct effect on the human heart,” he said.
A state funeral at Washington National Cathedral is, to be fair, entirely standard for former presidents. As a cathedral spokesperson noted, all current living presidents have plans in the works. So Hillary planning a funeral in the abstract isn’t the story. The details are the story.
Wagener suggested Clinton may prefer to be buried at the library’s rooftop garden — his “happy place” — rather than the grounds overlooking the Arkansas River. Given that the library is, architecturally speaking, a concrete barge on stilts, one can understand why the rooftop might be the more appealing option.
The will is the more interesting development. A $120 million estate, changes made during a period of declining health, and speculation that the names in the document could produce “real surprises.” The Clintons have made a 30-year career out of doing things in their financial lives that other Americans couldn’t get away with — from cattle futures to foundation accounting to the various arrangements that enriched them considerably without any of it being technically illegal, apparently. A will with surprise beneficiaries is a fitting final chapter for that particular story.
The most honest observation about all of this is the one that Matt Margolis made upfront: Hillary has probably been planning this funeral for decades. The only real question is whether she’s been planning it in the conventional sense, or whether she’s been running contingency scenarios since roughly 1993.
Clinton’s hideout is the library. His insurance policy against stress is distance from Hillary. His cardiologist says stress is his biggest risk factor. You draw your own conclusions.
