ABC’s Good Morning America subjected viewers Tuesday to nauseating segment with former First Daughter and failed NBC News correspondent Chelsea Clinton featuring not only her latest children’s book, but extremely tall tales of how Bill and Hillary empowered their grandkids to eat ice cream and pizza when they all lived together during the initial COVID wave.
News reader T.J. Holmes boasted that the “[f]ormer first daughter, activist, and author” is kicking Women’s History Month with the fourth installment in the She Persisted series, She Persisted in Science: Brilliant Women Who Made a Difference. Of course, the title was a nod to this manufactured Resistance rallying cry.
Showing she’s as canned as her parents, Holmes asked her how she was doing and Clinton responded with this: “I'm great. Thank you so much, T.J., and I’m so excited to be kicking off Women's History Month with you because men need to worry about women's history too.”
Holmes said he would get to her book, but noted the fact that, since she was “last on GMA in April 2019....something happened to you that happened with a lot of people: They had to move back in with their parents.”
Holmes continued to lay it on thick: “Have you reprogrammed the kids that ice cream and pizza is not a staple of your diet?”
Acting as though she was prepared, Clinton gushed it was a “gift of seeing the relationship between my children and my parents was almost perfect, except the eating habits were definitely not what I was working on where pizza was not acceptable for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“Thankfully, my mom realized that's probably not what I want to be teaching my grandkids, either, so kinda — we joined forces against my dad and my husband and got us all back on a healthy track,” she added.
The so-called journalist kept playing along, teeing up Clinton to answer which grandparent was “the worst...offender”: “[M]y mom was the worst in the beginning. But my dad was like, this is great, they're so happy. I’m like, they're so happy because they're just full of sugar all the time and this is not what we want for anyone, but we course-corrected within a few weeks.”
“I have to give them credit. They were, like, you know, the worst of indulgent grandparents. But then, thankfully, they got on the healthy train,” she said.
Holmes then pivoted to the book, boasting that she “let...kids inspire you for the topics” to which Clinton said she “love[s] spending time with kids, with the young readers, kind of hearing the questions they have[.]”
After citing examples of prolific women she covered in her book, Holmes wanted to know what he own kids made of them. Clinton stated they “give” her “unvarnished feedback, which I appreciate” while they remain “curious” with her son thinking of women whenever the subjects of math and soccer come up.
The five minutes of eye-rolling came to an end with Holmes asking Clinton give advice to parents about how to talk to their kids about the war in Ukraine.
Like a good liberal, Clinton also brought up climate change (click “expand”):
HOLMES: And you mentioned the podcast. You were having other women on and focusing on other women, as well. But one last question here: Given the times we're seeing and the difficulty that news day is in and day out, I mean, you're writing books and communicating with kids through these books. Do you know — do you have any — any tips or even something you do to help our kids, the young ones, navigate the difficulty with the pandemic and now some of the scenes we're seeing on TV with what's coming out of Ukraine?
CLINTON: Yeah, we — we talk about the world, with our children and we do it in age-appropriate ways, so we talk about climate change and then, we talk about how, you know, the adults need to make better choices around kind of big questions of how we make and consume energy. But kids can help recycle. You know, they can help conserve water because I want kids to — including my own — to be informed. I also want them to be empowered and not disempowered and feeling like all of these kinda big events are happening to them and they don't have any agency. So, we have hard conversations, but hopefully, they’re always age-appropriate. Hopefully, they leave our kids feeling like, oh, all right, the adults have to do what adults have to do but I can do something, too.
Tuesday’s Clinton infomercial was brought to you by advertisers such as Comcast Business and Hulu. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from March 1, click “expand.”
ABC’s Good Morning America
March 1, 2022
8:08:50 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Chelsea Clinton Live, 8:40]
ROBIN ROBERTS: And as we kick off Women’s History Month, Chelsea Clinton joins us live, talking about her newest children book from her best-selling series highlighting impactful women.
(....)
8:36:16 a.m. Eastern [TEASE]
ROBERTS: Coming up, Chelsea Clinton talks about her new book and how her readers inspired it.
(....)
8:40 a.m. Eastern
T.J. HOLMES: Well, we turn now to celebrating Women’s History Month, with a woman we’ve known since she was a kid. We're talking about Chelsea Clinton. Former first daughter, activist, and author of a best-selling series, She Persisted. She is now out with the fourth book in the series, She Persisted in Science: Brilliant Women Who Made a Difference. And she is with us now. Chelsea Clinton, it is so good to have you here with us. How are you, ma’am?
CHELSEA CLINTON: I'm great. Thank you so much, T.J., and I’m so excited to be kicking off Women’s History Month with you because men need to worry about women's history too.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Chelsea Clinton; Live on GMA]
HOLMES: Absolutely. We love all the women in our lives, the girls in our lives who are going to become strong women one day. I want to ask you first because you were last on GMA in April 2019 and something happened to you that happened with a lot of people. They had to move back in with their parents. Now, you moved back in with your parents who happened to be a former president and the former secretary of state. Have you reprogrammed the kids that ice cream and pizza is not a staple of your diet?
CLINTON: Yes. Well, T.J., it was a gift to spend, you know, those few months over the beginning of the pandemic with my parents. The gift of seeing the relationship between my children and my parents was almost perfect, except the eating habits were definitely not what I was working on where pizza was not acceptable for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thankfully, my mom realized that's probably not what I want to be teaching my grandkids, either, so kinda — we joined forces against my dad and my husband and got us all back on a healthy track.
HOLMES: Oh, you know, I'm just curious, as a follow-up. Who — was the mom — your mom or your dad was the worst grandparent offender when it came to the diet?
CLINTON: Ah. You know, my mom was the worst in the beginning. But my dad was like, this is great, they're so happy. I’m like, they're so happy because they're just full of sugar all the time and this is not what we want for anyone, but we course-corrected within a few weeks. I have to give them credit. They were, like, you know, the worst of indulgent grandparents. But then, thankfully, they got on the healthy train.
HOLMES: Well, that is a good update to hear and the update here — you're in the fourth book of the series and this one focuses on science, but I understand that some of the — the topics, you let actually kids inspire you for the topics of your books.
CLINTON: Yes, so I love spending time with kids, with the young readers, kind of hearing the questions they have, understanding what they want to know more about, hearing who already inspires them and there they’re looking for inspiration. And so, I spoke to just so many kids, including my own, when I thought about the women to profile in this book and I was so excited to bring — you know, maybe some more familiar stories like Jane Goodall or Florence nightingale, who I see is on the screen now. And also some less familiar stories, like Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Black American woman doctor or the amazing Gladys West, who developed GPS, or Grace Hopper who kind of really helped invent computer programming language. Or Rosyln Franklin, who I see now, or Dr. Flosi Wong-Staal, who really — with their work on HIV and hepatitis help us understand COVID better today. So, I'm so excited to bring the stories to young and maybe not so young readers this month.
HOLMES: Do you have a built-in focus group at home? How are your kids dealing with the books?
CLINTON: Yes, thankfully, my kids give unvarnished feedback, which I appreciate. I appreciate the honesty and, thankfully, my kids are curious. And I know I was joking how great it was to talk to you, TJ, at the beginning of Women’s History Month, but it really matters a lot to me, that it's not just for my daughter, it’s for my sons, too. And if you ask, kind of, Aidan, you know, who he thinks of when he thinks of soccer, he thinks of Megan Rapinoe, who I talked to on my podcast for Women’s History Month. If you ask him who thinks of math, he thinks about Katherine Johnson. He doesn't think it's strange to have women icons and idols. And I think that's pretty awesome.
HOLMES: And you mentioned the podcast. You were having other women on and focusing on other women, as well. But one last question here: Given the times we're seeing and the difficulty that news day is in and day out, I mean, you're writing books and communicating with kids through these books. Do you know — do you have any — any tips or even something you do to help our kids, the young ones, navigate the difficulty with the pandemic and now some of the scenes we're seeing on TV with what's coming out of Ukraine?
CLINTON: Yeah, we — we talk about the world, with our children and we do it in age-appropriate ways, so we talk about climate change and then, we talk about how, you know, the adults need to make better choices around kind of big questions of how we make and consume energy. But kids can help recycle. You know, they can help conserve water because I want kids to — including my own — to be informed. I also want them to be empowered and not disempowered and feeling like all of these kinda big events are happening to them and they don't have any agency. So, we have hard conversations, but hopefully, they’re always age-appropriate. Hopefully, they leave our kids feeling like, oh, all right, the adults have to do what adults have to do but I can do something, too.
HOLMES: Chelsea, it is always an absolute pleasure to see you and talk to — congrats on the book. Glad to hear your kids are back on —
CLINTON: Thank you, TJ.
HOLMES: — salads.
HOLMES: She Persisted in Science —
CLINTON: Yeah.
HOLMES: — is out today.
