Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been dominating most Americans’ minds for the past few months. While a moral argument can be made against either candidate, I believe the more convincing argument can be made against Clinton. Her blatant disregard for republican government, stances on partial-birth abortion, self-interest and casual regard for truth are just a few issues that come to mind when considering Clinton as a credible candidate.

Beginning with Bill Clinton’s presidency, Hillary has been in the limelight. Her husband’s scandal with Monica Lewinsky and near impeachment made certain the American public would never forget her. Once a senator from New York and secretary of state, she has since become her own political mogul. Hillary has experience in the political realm, but her time in the political spotlight has consisted of scandal after scandal and her “right-wing conspiracy” blame.

In the year of the Washington outsider, Hillary epitomizes the political insider with all the stereotypical baggage associated with it. Running through the heated primaries within the Republican and Democrat parties to the general election, it has become clear in this election cycle that Americans are dissatisfied with insider deals happening inside Washington and with politicians not being transparent and acting in their own best interests instead of the interests of their constituencies. Despite all this, the Democrat party has decided to nominate the consummate political insider — Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In her autobiography, former White House correspondent Helen Thomas weighed in on what makes an effective president: “In covering eight administrations, what I’ve learned is that without credibility, a president cannot persuade, convince or govern.” Thomas goes on to quote President Abraham Lincoln, “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended on to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” Hillary Clinton has repeatedly misled and betrayed the American people. Whether her crimes will merit an indictment or not, she has compromised the rule of law. National Security as well, as the public trust has been damaged by her actions.

Beginning last week and continuing each day, WikiLeaks is releasing hundreds of Clinton’s emails. The FBI reopened the investigation into Clinton’s private email server. Previously, she has been on the record making contradictory statements. Clinton claimed that thousands of emails sent during her time as secretary of state were personal and not considered confidential at the time they were sent. However, the FBI found “personal” emails that in actuality contained classified, secret and top-secret information. In July, FBI Director James Comey stated that Clinton should not be prosecuted, but “there is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about the matters should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.” Now, with new information released by WikiLeaks, it is even more evident that Clinton has directly concealed her email activity. Around 30,000 emails were deleted from Clinton’s private server on the claim that they were “personal.” In a recently released email, the chairman of Clinton’s campaign John Podesta states, “On another matter and not to sound like Lanny, but we are going to have to dump all those emails so better to do so sooner than later.” It is not clear what emails Podesta is referring to, but the fact that Clinton and the chairman of her campaign are in the middle of another controversy is reason enough to doubt her credibility as a leader.

While neither major-party candidate has taken the high ground with morality, the continual trend of scandals, cover-ups and contradictory statements has certainly eroded the public’s trust of Hillary Clinton. American government is representative; the people choose their leaders and entrusts them to safeguard our nation. This truth about representative government necessitates the trust of the people. Character and integrity count as we entrust the security of our country, as well as its very future, to our political representatives.