On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton decided to pass along exclusive excerpts of her new memoir to her pals at MSNBC. Predictably, after playing long clips of the audio version of What Happened, the cast of Morning Joe gushed over Clinton’s “very powerful” narrative and were amazed by her supposed “self-reflection.” In reality, the partisan screed was more about self-pity and sniping at Donald Trump.
In the first clip, Clinton bitterly wallowed in her defeat: “Writing this wasn’t easy. Every day that I was a candidate for president, I knew that millions of people were counting on me and I couldn’t bare the idea of letting them down, but I did. I couldn’t get the job done and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
The second excerpt featured the failed Democratic nominee hurling personal insults at Trump:
It was the second presidential debate and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before the world heard him brag about groping women. Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.
It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, “Well, what would you do?” Do you stay calm, keep smiling, and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say loudly and clearly, “Back up you creep, get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up”?
The irony of the woman married to Bill Clinton complaining about another man being a “creep” who loves to “intimidate women” was completely lost on the liberal morning show cast.
Instead, host Joe Scarborough fawned over Clinton’s account:
...it seems like there was a good bit of self-reflection. And there is just – that last excerpt we played was very powerful....And also, very moved by what she said at the beginning, that she was concerned through the entire campaign, there were so many people who were relying on her and she said, “I was so worried that I was going to let people down, and I did.” That's just powerful writing. That is self-reflection...
Turning to political analyst Mark Halperin, co-host Willie Geist sympathized with Clinton, portraying her as one of those hardest hit by the Trump presidency: “...the last seven months have been especially painful for her to watch if you talk to people close to Hillary Clinton. What might have been for her and what she feels she might he been able to prevent in Donald Trump over the first seven months.”
Halperin promoted the book by declaring: “...it’s unlike most books by politicians.... it’s already doing well on Amazon and I think people are gonna look at this book as a different kind of thing and as part of the historical record that is unlike anything she’s ever provided before....So it is widely anticipated, and rightfully so.”
Wrapping up the panel discussion, Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Megan Murphy recalled with horror the second presidential debate described by Clinton:
Going back to what she said about that incident in St. Louis, and I think for all of us who were there that night, it was such a moment, there were almost gasps of shock in the press room watching it as it was happening, as he was looming over her. And to be frank, she’s right, and this is an experience that many women, many professional women, many senior women face. And whether they stand up to it or whether they do as she said, dig her fingernails into her clenched fist, I think that will very powerful in her discussing so much of what she feels animated the anger towards her, the depth of negative sentiment toward her campaign, and how she was unwilling to confront it directly.
The reporter also mourned the Democrat’s loss: “But it is incredibly painful for her supporters still to wake up every day, especially on days like today, when we see the kind of rhetoric deployed last night by the President. It is an incredibly painful experience for her personally...”
The piece of Clinton propaganda was again touted an hour later on NBC’s Today show, with co-host Savannah Guthrie telling viewers:
We are getting our first look this morning at Hillary Clinton’s much-anticipated new book, titled, What Happened. In an exclusive excerpt obtained by MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Clinton describes the second presidential debate. She says she felt uncomfortable on stage with Donald Trump, quote, “looming behind her, staring at her, and making faces.” Clinton said, quote, “He was literally breathing down my neck and my skin crawled.”
The slanted Morning Joe discussion was brought to viewers by Depend, Liberty Mutual, and Angie’s List.
Here is a full transcript of the August 23 segment:
6:30 AM ET
WILLIE GEIST: Welcome back to Morning Joe. We have obtained an exclusive excerpt from Hillary Clinton’s new book, and for the first time, we’re hearing exactly what she thought about sharing a stage with Donald Trump. First, here’s what the Democratic nominee had to say about why she’s revisiting last year’s losing bid for the White House.
HILLARY CLINTON: I don’t have all the answers and this isn’t a comprehensive account of the 2016 race. That’s not for me to write. I have too little distance and too great a stake in it. Instead, this is my story. I want to pull back the curtain on an experience that was exhilarating, joyful, humbling, infuriating, and just plain baffling. Writing this wasn’t easy. Every day that I was a candidate for president, I knew that millions of people were counting on me and I couldn’t bare the idea of letting them down, but I did. I couldn’t get the job done and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.
In this book I write about moments from the campaign that I wish I could go back and do over. If the Russians could hack my subconscious, they’d find a long list. I also capture some moments I want to remember forever, like when my tiny granddaughter raced into the room while I was practicing my convention speech and what it was like hours later to step on stage to deliver that speech as the first woman ever nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.
GEIST: In the excerpt we have, Secretary Clinton also addressed this moment from October. You’ll remember this, when Donald Trump stood directly behind her while the two candidates debated at Washington University in St. Louis.
CLINTON: This is not okay, I thought. It was the second presidential debate and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before the world heard him brag about groping women. Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.
It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, “Well, what would you do?” Do you stay calm, keep smiling, and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say loudly and clearly, “Back up you creep, get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.”
I chose option A. I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men trying to throw me off. I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard. I wonder, though, whether I should have chosen option B. It certainly would have been better TV. Maybe I have overlearned the lesson of staying calm, biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while, determined to present a composed face to the world.
GEIST: So, Joe, that book, What Happened, comes out in just a few weeks on September the 12th. A lot of people are going to be interested for reasons like we just heard, some color behind the scenes, but also just to see how much self-analysis and reflection there is about how she could have lost this race to Donald Trump.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, certainly those excerpts, Willie, it seems like there was a good bit of self-reflection. And there is just – that last excerpt we played was very powerful. And, yes, if she had gone with the second option, it probably would have made a very big difference in that debate, just like when George W. Bush stared at Al Gore when he was trying to invade his space. But I think what makes – what makes that so fascinating is we all do that – not of course on this huge stage that Hillary Clinton was on – but we all look back and say, “Well, gee, what if I had done something a little differently? What if I had gone in one direction instead of the other? What sort of difference might that have made?” And actually, it is – this will be good to see what Hillary Clinton was thinking.
And also, very moved by what she said at the beginning, that she was concerned through the entire campaign, there were so many people who were relying on her and she said, “I was so worried that I was going to let people down, and I did.” That's just powerful writing. That is self-reflection, and I think that’s exactly what people who love Hillary Clinton and people who want to study this campaign more, are going to want to read.
GEIST: And obviously, Mark Halperin, the last seven months have been especially painful for her to watch if you talk to people close to Hillary Clinton. What might have been for her and what she feels she might he been able to prevent in Donald Trump over the first seven months.
MARK HALPERIN: I’ve talked to several people who’ve read the book and they all say it’s unlike previous Hillary Clinton books, it’s unlike most books by politicians, and that it does run through – and the two exclusive excerpts here make that clear – it does run through the campaign in a way that she’s never done before. So I think it’s already doing well on Amazon and I think people are gonna look at this book as a different kind of thing and as part of the historical record that is unlike anything she’s ever provided before.
SCARBOROUGH: So, Mark, you’ve followed the Clintons for a very long time. I remember going out and buying Bill Clinton’s biography – autobiography and was about as excited getting through that as Ronald Reagan’s biography. I ran out excited to see both. Both the Republican and the Democratic autobiography were boring because they are both very self-serving. This cuts – this cuts through in a way that most biographies don’t seem to, autobiographies. This is very – it seems very un-Clintonesque, in terms of books. Are we going to see a pretty big departure?
HALPERIN: Yeah, I mean, again, I’m pretty familiar with a lot of what went into this, and a big part of it was driven by her. Some of it was her aides telling her what people are interested in and she was surprised at the kinds of things that people were interested in about her life and the conduct of the campaign. There’s stuff in there about what it’s like to be a candidate. But I’ll say, as I understand it, and I haven’t read it yet, it is different not just from Clinton books or presidential memoirs, it’s different than almost any politician’s book and it’s somewhat surprising to people because Hillary Clinton is not the first person you would expect would come forward.
Now, there is stuff in there about Russia and about James Comey that’s gonna get a lot of attention. And part of how this book will be received is the balance that she strikes between taking responsibility for some things that went wrong, which she does in the book I am told, but also her analysis, some of which she’s done in public since the campaign, about how outside forces and enemies of her’s also contributed to her loss. So it is widely anticipated, and rightfully so.
GEIST: It’s interesting, Megan, Hillary Clinton and her campaign have heard from a million different people on TV and probably people they run into in the grocery store about why they lost and what they should have done better to have her win the election. It’ll be interesting to finally hear from her, out of her own mouth, in her own words, about why she believes she lost to Donald Trump.
MEGAN MURPHY [EDITOR, BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK]: I mean, I think it feels a little bit strange, in particular this morning, after the speech we saw last night from the President in Arizona, to be talking about Hillary Clinton’s lack of self-reflection and taking responsibility for this loss, given the situation we’re in now.
Going back to what she said about that incident in St. Louis, and I think for all of us who were there that night, it was such a moment, there were almost gasps of shock in the press room watching it as it was happening, as he was looming over her. And to be frank, she’s right, and this is an experience that many women, many professional women, many senior women face. And whether they stand up to it or whether they do as she said, dig her fingernails into her clenched fist, I think that will very powerful in her discussing so much of what she feels animated the anger towards her, the depth of negative sentiment toward her campaign, and how she was unwilling to confront it directly. Whether or not that’s lasting, what it means for other women candidates going forward.
But it is incredibly painful for her supporters still to wake up every day, especially on days like today, when we see the kind of rhetoric deployed last night by the President. It is an incredibly painful experience for her personally, talking to people close to her, and I do think this book will be interesting to see how deeply she goes into that.
GEIST: It does sound like she’s gonna open up her life and put it on the page. Again, that book comes out in a couple of weeks.
