What Happened, Hillary Clinton’s first-person tale of the 2016 campaign, was released last week, full of anecdotes about life on the campaign trail, examination on why she didn’t win, personal life details and harsh words for her male opponents. New York summarized some of the best details from the book.
Clinton, of course, dives deep into stories and feelings about President Trump. One thing she wanted clear up is about that famous picture of her and husband Bill Clinton at Trump’s wedding. She writes that she and Bill really didn’t know either of them and assumed they were invited to increase the wedding’s “star power.” They went because they were “in the area anyway,” New York writes.
She said that Trump’s supporters made her feel like Cersei Lannister because they would shout “Guilty! Guilty!” at his rallies. She also writes that the clear ponchos everyone wore at Trump’s inauguration were supposed to be white, but one staffer realized that they looked like the KKK hoods. Clinton’s concession call to Trump was short, and felt almost ordinary, “like calling a neighbor to say you can’t make it to his barbecue.”
Clinton also criticized and commented on points of her own campaign. She says that she “played the political game as it used to be, not as it had become.” She admits that she did not stir enough excitement and ascribed a lot of the hatred people have toward her to sexism. She hired a linguistics expert to advise her how to talk on the stump as a woman. He told her to focus on deep breathing and don’t shout back. She also hired a make-up artist after a moment with Anna Wintour, who “saw her at an event and knew she needed help.” Clinton writes that she never got used to how much “effort it takes just to be a woman in the public eye.”
Clinton says that Obama urged her to run for president. Clinton also said she doesn’t feel like she spent too much time fundraising from wealthy donors, because until campaign finance reform is signed into law, there is no way around it.
And finally, Clinton talks about her personal life in What Happened. She doesn’t mind taking selfies with someone, but would prefer to have a conversation. She works out every day, and her post-election depression outfit was yoga pants and a fleece, writes New York, and post-election pop culture has been “Friday Night Lights, Gilmore Girls, the Hamilton cast album, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, and NCIS: Los Angeles.”
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