On Thursday, two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made yet another stop on her liberal media book tour, this time on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show. And as would be expected, Maddow was quite delighted to have Clinton on her program. So delighted in fact, that many of her questions involved encouraging the former Secretary of State to smear President Trump and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Right off the bat, the first question from Maddow was begging Clinton to discredit Trump for how he was handling the situation with North Korea. “Let me start with something that just happened tonight: North Korea tonight, just shot another missile over Japan,” she prefaced.
“You have said since you've been talking about your book and since people had the chance to talk about current affairs, you’ve said President Trump is being played by Kim Jong-un, that Trump is somehow playing right into his hand,” Maddow touted. “What do you mean by that?”
After letting Clinton rant for nearly four minutes with no interruption, Maddow trained her sights on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “You, of course, were one of the highest profile secretaries of state we've ever had. Rex Tillerson is among the lowest, certainly the lowest in modern times,” she praised as she parroted Clinton’s claims that Secretary of Defense James Mattis was doing both jobs.
Maddow decried Tillerson’s request to cut the State Department’s budget by 30 percent and his goal to maximize efficiency. She claimed the Secretary of State was leaving senior positions unfilled, but failed to mention the obstruction by Senate Democrats that resulted in a logjam in nominee confirmations.
“Given the risk of nuclear war with North Korea, given the sorts of diplomatic challenges that we got around the country and around the world, why do you think they are hollowing out the State Department,” Maddow wanted to know.
Clinton’s response lasted for almost three minutes and was followed up by Maddow dismissing Tillerson’s experience.
“Do you think that it was inherently a bad idea to take somebody who had been a lifer at Exxon, somebody who only in his adult life only worked at Exxon, the immediate past CEO of Exxon to put him immediately in charge of diplomacy and the State Department,” Maddow rambled. “Was he a strange choice for the job? Is being the CEO of Exxon inappropriate experience to bring to the job he's trying to do now?”
Towards the end of the fawning interview, the MSNBC host opined about the vitriol and sexism Clinton had to deal with in 2016:
I also feel like the sexism that you faced as a political barrier in 2016 was considerably worse than the sexism you faced as a barrier in 2008. And I know in 2016 you got further, but I feel like what I saw directed as you as a public figure was more vitriolic and frankly more rhetorically violent than what I saw eight years earlier, which implies to me -- maybe that's the general election versus the Democratic primary. I like to think that things get better over time, too, and I don't see that as having happened with you.
As with most of the interviews Hillary Clinton has allowed in recent days, Rachel Maddow’s was clearly designed to allow her guest to go to town and slam all of those she blames for her loss.
Transcript below:
MSNBC
The Rachel Maddow Show
September 14, 2017
9:00:28 PM EasternRACHEL MADDOW: Let me start with something that just happened tonight: North Korea tonight, just shot another missile over Japan. They’ve done this twice in two and a half weeks now. You have said since you've been talking about your book and since people had the chance to talk about current affairs, you’ve said President Trump is being played by Kim Jong-un, that Trump is somehow playing right into his hand. What do you mean by that?
(…)
9:04:12 PM Eastern
MADDOW: You have described this week you've said that it seems to you that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis may be effectively operating as both defense secretary and secretary of state. You, of course, were one of the highest profile secretaries of state we've ever had. Rex Tillerson is among the lowest, certainly the lowest in modern times.
He has advocated a 30 percent cut to his own agency. He’s left dozens of senior jobs unfilled as you said today. He told State Department staff that his biggest goal for the State Department is efficiency and that's why he wants to shrink the State Department so mush. They’ve even stopped doing daily press briefings.
Given the risk of nuclear war with North Korea, given the sorts of diplomatic challenges that we got around the country and around the world, why do you think they are hollowing out the State Department?
(…)
9:07:05 PM Eastern
MADDOW: Do you think that it was inherently a bad idea to take somebody who had been a lifer at Exxon, somebody who only in his adult life only worked at Exxon, the immediate past CEO of Exxon to put him immediately in charge of diplomacy and the State Department? I mean, when you were secretary of state in 2011, Rex Tillerson went to Vladimir Putin's house on the black sea to celebrate Exxon and Russia signing a half trillion-dollar oil deal, that was probably the biggest in the history of oil.
HILLARY CLINTON: Right.
MADDOW: Putin later awarded him the Russian order of friendship, when another part of that deal closed. Was he a strange choice for the job? Is being the CEO of Exxon inappropriate experience to bring to the job he's trying to do now?
(…)
9:43:11 PM Eastern
MADDOW: I also feel like the sexism that you faced as a political barrier in 2016 was considerably worse than the sexism you faced as a barrier in 2008. And I know in 2016 you got further, but I feel like what I saw directed as you as a public figure was more vitriolic and frankly more rhetorically violent than what I saw eight years earlier, which implies to me -- maybe that's the general election versus the Democratic primary. I like to think that things get better over time, too, and I don't see that as having happened with you.
(…)
