One month ago, Hillary Clinton’s new book, What Happened , hit the shelves. In it, she provides her reasons about why she lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump. If she had won, she would have been the first woman to become U.S. president. But, she didn’t win. And, according to the book, there are numerous explanations for why she lost. This article will look at three of the reasons and explore the facts behind each.
“Basket of Deplorables” Comment
In the book, Mrs. Clinton writes about a speech that she made at the LGBT for Hillary Gala, in September of 2016. In that speech, Clinton was quoted as saying, “you could put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” according to an article from Politifact .
Mrs. Clinton paid a heavy price for the comment. From a CNN article that came out after the election, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook “acknowledged the former secretary of state calling half of Donald Trump’s supporters ‘deplorables’ alienated voters.” Even though Mr. Mook pointed out that Clinton quickly “publicly expressed regret over the remarks,” the damage may have already been done. Clinton, herself, acknowledged that she “gave Trump ‘a political gift,’” as reported in an article from the Huffington Post .
Wall Street Speaking Fees
In the book, Mrs. Clinton indicates that taking speaking fees from Wall Street may have been “bad optics.” With “several six-figures speeches,” according to the L.A. Times , and a reluctance to release the speech transcripts, Mrs. Clinton may have made the issue bigger than it needed to be. One thing that might have stood out, according to the New York Times , was the “tone and language” in the speeches. They were quite different from what she used in the primary against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. This fact “could have undermined her candidacy.”
Personal Email Server
In her book, Mrs. Clinton acknowledges that the decision to use a personal email server was “dumb.” Yet, she also doesn’t put it into the group of “real issues,” which may be where she is wrong. Clinton blames former FBI Director James Comey for re-opening the email investigation immediately prior to the election, with the result “I immediately start falling [in the polls].” However, it may be important to point out that if the personal email server was not used, Mr. Comey probably would not have had an email investigation to open in the first place.
There could be many reasons why Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 presidential election. And the public might never know completely why. But, the comments, speaking fees, and email server may have been more important than Mrs. Clinton would like to believe. She came close to her goal of becoming president. But she didn’t make it and some reasons for losing may have been in her control.
[Featured Image by MediaPunch/AP Images]
