A year after two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton published What Happened, her whiny take on why she lost to President Trump in 2016 (Spoiler Alert: everyone else but her), she's back with a reprinting featuring a brand new Afterword where she shared her fears of the Trump presidency after the first year.
Being a liberal sycophant, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow dedicated nearly her entire Tuesday broadcast to hawking the new book and discussing the news with Clinton.
While holding up the original printing of the book, Maddow gushed about how highly recommended and readable it was. “It contains what is still one of the most comprehensive timelines of what happened to the Democratic Party, what happened to her campaign when it came to the Russian attack on the 2016 election,” she fawned.
Then when she held up the newest version of Clinton’s tome of grievances, Maddow bragged that “this version of the book has a big new caboose.” “She has written a new chunk of the book, and it is about what has happened in the past year. And it's not good. I mean, the book is good, but in Hillary Clinton's counting, what has happened in the past year is really, really not good,” she added before reading passages of Clinton’s fearmongering:
She says, quote, “The corruption of the Trump administration is breathtaking. Our democratic institutions and traditions are under assault every day. There may not be tanks in the streets and the administration's malevolence may be constrained -- for now -- by its incompetence, but make no mistake: our democracy is in crisis.”
She said, “I'm writing this not as a Democrat who lost an election, but as a Democrat afraid of losing a country.” She says, "Since this book came out, my fears about what a Trump presidency would mean for our country have been repeatedly surpassed by reality."
“You are not a hyperbolic person,” Maddow suggested after introducing Clinton. “You're very careful and precise in your public statements. Why are you telling people now that you are afraid of losing a country?”
While Clinton claimed she gave President Trump the benefit of the doubt at first, she had since grown quite fearful for the future of America. “But the actions that we have seen coming from the White House in this administration in the nearly two years since the election have raised all kinds of signal flares, alarm bells about what is happening to our democracy,” she decried.
Maddow read another passage talking about how political scientists and historians were ringing the alarm bells of authoritarianism on the rise in the United States. “You're worried not just about the erosion of democratic norms, those things you were just describing. Are you literally worried about America becoming subject to authoritarian rule under Trump,” she asked.
“Well, what I'm worried about is these authoritarian tendencies that we have seen at work in this administration with this president left unchecked could very well result in the erosion of our institutions to an extent that we've never imagined possible here,” Clinton hyperventilated.
According to Clinton, America needed to stand up in a show of force and reject President Trump at the ballot box in November because “it's an election that could not be more critical to ending any continuing threat from authoritarian tendencies.” Give me a break.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC
The Rachel Maddow Show
September 18, 2018
9:00:52 p.m. EasternRACHEL MADDOW: One year ago, Hillary Clinton published this book, which is simply titled What Happened. It's her perspective on what happened in the 2016 election. It contains what is still one of the most comprehensive timelines of what happened to the Democratic Party, what happened to her campaign when it came to the Russian attack on the 2016 election. There is lots of other things in this book, but that, like 50-page summary starts on page 325. It's very, very readable. As I said, I think it's one of the best summaries anybody's done anywhere in terms of what happened with the Russian attack. It is highly readable, highly recommended. This came out last year.
Now, as of tonight, there is this version of the book as well. And this version of the book has a big new caboose. She has written a new chunk of the book, and it is about what has happened in the past year. And it's not good. I mean, the book is good, but in Hillary Clinton's counting, what has happened in the past year is really, really not good. Here is part of how she sums it up in the new portion of the book.
She says, quote, “The corruption of the Trump administration is breathtaking. Our democratic institutions and traditions are under assault every day. There may not be tanks in the streets and the administration's malevolence may be constrained -- for now -- by its incompetence, but make no mistake: our democracy is in crisis.”
She said, “I'm writing this not as a Democrat who lost an election, but as a Democrat afraid of losing a country.” She says, "Since this book came out, my fears about what a Trump presidency would mean for our country have been repeatedly surpassed by reality."
It's not a feel-good kind of book. It's kind of a -- well, I wouldn't say it's a fire alarm. Maybe it's a signal flare.
(…)
MADDOW: I do want to talk to you about the new parts of the book. I do want to talk to you about some new evidence that has recently emerged, actually, in the past few days about what did happen during the election. I also want to talk with you about some stuff that's going on in the news right now.
But given that portion that I just read from the book, I want to jump right in with essentially that fear that you are expressing. You are not a hyperbolic person. You're very careful and precise in your public statements. Why are you telling people now that you are afraid of losing a country?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I think for several reasons. I do say in the afterward that I, like every other American, hoped for best, wanted to give our new president the benefit of the doubt. But the actions that we have seen coming from the White House in this administration in the nearly two years since the election have raised all kinds of signal flares, alarm bells about what is happening to our democracy. And put aside partisanship and all of the ideological concerns, we have to defend the fundamental values and ideals of the American democracy.
And very briefly, I look at several different challenges that are all coming at us at the same time. Degrading the rule of law, delegitimizing elections, attacking truth and reason, undermining our national unity, looking at the broad cross-section of what has been going on ever since this presidency began, I think it is a crisis, and it's a crisis that should concern every American.
MADDOW: You put an even finer point on that in the new portion of the book. You say, quote, “a growing number of political scientists and historians who study the rise of authoritarians and the fall of democracies are sounding the alarm. The warning to us: is authoritarianism is gaining strength around the world and here at home. I share that sense of urgency and alarm.”
You're worried not just about the erosion of democratic norms, those things you were just describing. Are you literally worried about America becoming subject to authoritarian rule under Trump?
CLINTON: Well, what I'm worried about is these authoritarian tendencies that we have seen at work in this administration with this president left unchecked could very well result in the erosion of our institutions to an extent that we've never imagined possible here.
Look, we are a robust, dynamic democracy. We have lots of disagreements, but I look at what's happening in Hungary, what's happening in Poland. Obviously, Russia is exhibit a. And I know that if we don't have a very big rejection of those tendencies come in this midterm election, left unchecked and unaccountable, I think you will only see more of these attacks on our institutions, on our norms, on the rule of law that could do lasting damage. We're not there yet, but that's because we have an election. And it's an election that could not be more critical to ending any continuing threat from authoritarian tendencies.
(…)
