Monday on Morning Joe, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski talked to Tina Brown about just how “frustrating” it is that Hillary Clinton lost. In her first public interview since the election results, Clinton told the Women in the World Summit that one of the reasons she failed was the e-mail scandal. When Brown had mentioned this, she said, “In the debates, she was phenomenal but in interviews she was always in a crouch position over the darn e-mails.” Poor Hillary! Brzezinski heard this and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh yeah I know... So frustrating!”
Brzezinski began by introducing Brown and declared: “Wow. You really had quite a summit. Hillary Clinton on stage talking” She pondered: “[Clinton] talked a little bit about her loss and why it happened and she was very forthcoming with a number of different reasons.” Scarborough chimed in: “The timeliness of what she said she would have done with Assad, just hours before Donald Trump did the same thing.” Brzezinski praised: “Amazing...Striking.”
Brown responded, suggesting the world should give credit to Clinton for the Syrian strikes that took place:
Yeah, that was really remarkable . . . I mean she was so strong about bombing those airfields in Syria . . . I felt she was like sending that message out loud and clear and it was remarkable how within, you know, an hour of us saying it really, or in a couple of hours, you know, it happened. Whether she knew ahead of time it might happen or whether it just simply was a boiling reaction all over the foreign policy establishment who knows. But she certainly said it loud and proud.
Following this comment, Brzezinski introduced a clip played of Clinton explaining her defeat:
The outside intervention, the combination of the Comey letter on October 28th, Wikileaks which played a much bigger role than I think many people understand yet, had the determinative effect... Certainly misogyny played a role. I mean that just has to be admitted. And why and what the underlying reasons were, is what I'm trying to parse out myself.
Scarborough asked Brown after the clip ended: “So in all that parsing out she gets Comey, Russia and misogyny, does she ever talk about herself not going to Wisconsin? Running a campaign that everybody close to her just eviscerated?” Brown answered: “She said at the top there were multiple reasons... But, you know, she also talked about something very interesting. I loved the phrase, she said she mentioned the weaponization of information. And it was a very startling phrase.” Scarborough interrupted and asked: “Did she ever blame herself?”
Brown:
She did. She said the campaign we had made many mistakes, you know, she did say, you know, there were things they did that were wrong, But she also was being asked to itemize some of the things that she felt from the outside had really affected things. And I think that she was right about the misogyny piece. I mean she did talk about how when she left the state department she had a 64% approval rating but as soon as she began to run for office she was– turned into typhoid Mary and she actually said, kind of funnily, and it wasn't even fair for typhoid Mary– She actually had so many great zingers and a lot of people said afterwards, you know, why didn't we see that Hillary on the campaign trail. To which I would say, that she was really very rarely given the opportunity to speak like that.
Scarborough, putting on a show, asserted: “People always complain about Donald Trump being on this show. Hillary Clinton... we seriously could have gotten John Lennon and Jesus on this show easier than we got Hillary Clinton...She was the most buttoned up candidate we've come across...The most fiercely protected. It was impossible to get her to be herself.”
Brzezinski, interrupted disagreeing: “Now wait a minute–”
Brown explained: “Well I think you know, here's the thing, in the debates she was phenomenal but in interviews she was always in a crouch position over the darn e-mails. You know?” Brzezinski emphatically answered: “Oh yeah I know...So frustrating.” Brown continued:
I think it buttoned her up. I think they made a mistake not putting her on those shows. I think it was a huge mistake of the campaign not to unbutton her in that sense but I also do think she was in a crouch position because she was constantly under attack for the e-mails which was really, really, in the end when you look back on it, insane. And you know, when she's freed she was on an amazing intellectual jam on women in the world. She was able to kind of rock and roll with her great mind, which we very rarely see.
At the end of the interview Scarborough asked: “So is she going to run for mayor of New York?” Brown quickly replied: “I don’t think that Hillary will run for office again . . . But I do think she's not out of the picture. I think she's definitely going to still be a power and a voice.
This is the full exchange that took place April 10:
MSNBC - Morning Joe
8:50AM
8:53:36 - 8:58:50
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Joining us now is (inaudible) founder of Tina Brown live media and the women in the world summit, Tina Brown. Great to have you today.TINA BROWN: Hi! Good to be here.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Wow. You really had quite a summit. Hillary Clinton-
TINA BROWN: Yeah.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: On stage.
TINA BROWN: Justin Trudeau.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Talking.
TINA BROWN: Yeah, Justin Trudeau was great and Hillary was great.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: She talked a little bit about her loss and why it happened and she was very forthcoming with a number of different reasons. Alex, do we have that bite? All right, we'll have that. We'll show that in just a second.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: But she also– the timeliness of what she said she would have done with Assad just hours before Donald Trump did the same thing.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Amazing
TINA BROWN: Yeah, that was really remarkable.
BRZEZINSKI: Striking.
BROWN: I mean she was so strong about bombing those airfields in Syria. I mean she -- I felt she was like sending that message out loud and clear and it was remarkable how within, you know, an hour of us saying it really, or in a couple of hours, you know, it happened. Whether she knew ahead of time it might happen or whether it just simply was a boiling reaction all over the foreign policy establishment who knows. But she certainly said it loud and proud.
BRZEZINSKI: And here she is talking about her defeat.
HILARY CLINTON: I am deeply concerned about what went on with Russia and I think it's important that we all work together, regardless of party or partisanship or anything else, we start acting like patriotic Americans, because a foreign power meddled with our election... The outside intervention, the combination of the Comey letter on October 28th, Wikileaks which played a much bigger role than I think many people understand yet, had the determinative effect... Certainly misogyny played a role. I mean that just has to be admitted. And why and what the underlying reasons were, is what I'm trying to parse out myself.
SCARBOROUGH: So in all that parsing out she gets Comey, Russia and misogyny, does she ever talk about herself not going to Wisconsin? Running a campaign that everybody close to her just eviscerated?
BROWN: She said at the top there were multiple reasons and clearly there were. But, you know, she also talked about something very interesting. I loved the phrase, she – she said she mentioned the weaponization of information. And it was a very startling phrase.
SCARBOROUGH: Did she ever blame herself?
BROWN: She did. She said the campaign we had made many mistakes, you know, she did say, you know, there were things they did that were wrong, But she also was being asked to itemize some of the things that she felt from the outside had really affected things. And I think that she was right about the misogyny piece. I mean she did talk about how when she left the state department she had a 64% approval rating but as soon as she began to run for office she was– turned into typhoid Mary and she actually said, kind of funnily, and it wasn't even fair for typhoid Mary– She actually had so many great zingers and a lot of people said afterwards, you know, why didn't we see that Hillary on the campaign trail. To which I would say, that she was really very rarely given the opportunity to speak like that. I mean at the end of the day --
SCARBOROUGH: Well, she never would.
BROWN: Well it's not only that though--
SCARBOROUGH: But it is that!!
BROWN: It is that you know–
SCARBOROUGH: I mean listen, people always complain about Donald Trump being on this show. Hillary Clinton literally we could’ve gotten -- we seriously could have gotten John Lennon and Jesus on this show easier than we got Hilary Clinton.
BROWN: I think that was a mistake.
SCARBOROUGH: She was the most buttoned up candidate we've come across--
BRZEZINSKI: Now wait a minute–
SCARBOROUGH: The most fiercely protected. It was impossible to get her to be herself.
BROWN: Well I think you know, here's the thing, in the debates she was phenomenal but in interviews she was always in a crouch position over the darn e-mails. You know?
BRZEZINSKI: Oh yeah I know.
BROWN: And the think is in the end --
BRZEZINSKI: So frustrating.
BROWN: I think it buttoned her up. I think it- I think they made a mistake not putting her on those shows. I think it was a huge mistake of the campaign not to unbutton her in that sense but I also do think she was in a crouch position because she was constantly under attack for the e-mails which was really, really, in the end when you look back on it, insane. And you know, when she's freed she was on an amazing intellectual jam on women in the world. She was able to kind of rock and roll with her great mind, which we very rarely see.
BRZEZINSKI: What did she say about Bernie Sanders?
BROWN: She didn't get into Bernie Sanders. No, she didn’t get into Bernie Sanders. She didn't get into Obama. I don't think that Hillary will ever go there with regard to any of those kind of criticisms. I think she was much more focused on what she called the hurt that Donald Trump was doing particularly to women. The onslaught against women– which she feels very keenly about.
MARK HALPERIN: Where do you think she is in the process of accepting that she lost?
BROWN: Oh, I think she's over it. I really do–
MIKE BARNICLE: You never get over it. Ever.
BROWN: Well, look, you never get over it, of course. And she said, it doesn't matter how tough of skin you have, every time it happens to you it really hurts. Clearly every day she gets up she wants to throw things at the TV screen and you know, but at the same time I think that she's not collapsed. I mean we've seen candidates, you know, who grow beards and disappear.
HALPERIN: Not yet, yes.
BROWN: She’s not going to do that. Yes. But you know she has kind of personally healed.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
BROWN: Is she a happy camper about it? I am sure she’s not—
SCARBOROUGH: So is she going to run for mayor of New York?
BROWN: I don't – I don’t think that Hillary will run for office again. I think– but I do think she's not out of the picture. I think she's definitely going to still be a power and a voice.
