Things got wild on CNN Tonight in the wee hours of Wednesday morning following Hillary Clinton officially becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. During a discussion about how Clinton should have handled the Benghazi situation and her high negatives, Donald Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany point out her series of scandals, “I think there's a reason that 68 percent of voters don't trust her. That didn't happen in a vacuum.” But write for The Atlantic Peter Beinart blames societal sexism:
I don't think you can explain Hillary Clinton's unfavorable ratings without understanding the way that men, and some women, who are traditionally minded respond to women when they start to take traditionally male roles. There is an enormous amount of social science.
From there everything devolved into chaos as other panels shouted their agreement with Beinart. “That’s clearly at play for sure,” Bill Baldwin chimed in. “I couldn’t agree with you more … No question … Yes. Absolutely. That’s true,” Angela Rye shouted every time Beinart said something.
“When women get jobs that women have not traditionally get, they get a lot of negative reaction,” Beinart continued, “You cannot take that out of the story of the country's reaction to Hillary Clinton.”
“If you think 70 percent of the nation doesn't trust her because she's a female –“ is all McEnany could get out before the rest of the panel, including Host Don Lemon pounced on her. “He’s saying it has an effect,” Lemon told McEnany.
Beinart was allowed to continue, “It has an effect. This is a massive cultural change that is threatened because women are not playing the traditional role that some Americans including some women would like them to continue to play.”
Transcript below:
CNN
CNN Tonight
July 27, 2016
1:36:45 PM Eastern…
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: I think you're [Billy Baldwin] exactly right. I think that makes a lot of sense. And I think there's a reason that 68 percent of voters don't trust her. That didn't happen in a vacuum. It happened after a consecutive line of scandals, be it the e-mail scandal, Clinton Foundation, Benghazi. Perhaps it's the way they were handled. I agree with you. With the E-Mail situation. if she would have come out said, “This shouldn't have happened, I made a mistake.” Instead of trying to say the State Department approves this, it would have been a lot better for her.
PETER BEINART: I disagree. If you look at PolitiFact, for instance, you find that actually among all the candidates who ran on both the democratic and Republican side, Hillary Clinton has one of the lowest ratings--
ANGELA RYE: That’s exactly right.
BEINART:--of people who have made false statements. I don't think –
RYE: And who’s got the highest?
MCENANY: The liberal fact checkers—
[Cross talk]
DON LEMON: Let him finish. Let him finish.
BEINART: They won the Pulitzer Prize. You're not going to like this. But I don't think you can explain Hillary Clinton's unfavorable ratings without understanding the way that men, and some women, who are traditionally minded respond to women when they start to take traditionally male roles. There is an enormous amount of social science.
RYE: I couldn’t agree with you more.
BILLY BALDWIN: That’s clearly at play for sure.
BEINART: You see this— I mean again, they have studied this in all kinds of workplace environments.
RYE: No question.
BEINART: When women get jobs that women have not traditionally get, they get a lot of negative reaction.
RYE: Yes. Absolutely. That’s true.
BEINART: You cannot take that out of the story of the country's reaction to Hillary Clinton.
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MCENANY: If you think 70 percent of the nation doesn't trust her because she's a female –
RYE: That’s not what he said!
BEINART: That’s not what I said.
[Cross talk]
MCENANY: That’s essentially what it’s boiling down to.
LEMON: He’s saying it has an effect.
[Cross talk]
BEINART: It has an effect.
[Cross talk]
This is a massive cultural change that is threatened because women are not playing the traditional role that some Americans including some women would like them to continue to play.
LEMON: That's a whole thing about that glass ceiling tonight that she shattered and so we'll see. Now she's going up—
[Cross talk]
Two of the most popular people in the world are going against each other. I mean, we have great jobs here. Because we get to be front and center for all of this.
