Hillary Clinton says she gets so agitated by the day-to-day dealings of the Trump administration and the Republican Party that she’s forced herself on a “news diet” to retain her sanity.
The twice-failed Democratic presidential candidate stopped by “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” Friday, telling the host that she can’t watch President Trump’s actions without thinking about what a better job she could have done in the White House.
“I do see things that go on every day that really disturb me a lot,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Obviously, I think ‘I wouldn’t have done that,’ or, ‘Boy, I can’t believe they’re doing this,’ so yeah, it does bother me.”
Mrs. DeGeneres quipped, “That must happen every five minutes.”
“It does,” Mrs. Clinton responded. “That’s why I’m on a kind of news diet. Because I can’t watch it all the time, because I really do get agitated.”
The former secretary of state said the Republican agenda — specifically the GOP tax bill, which could head to Mr. Trump’s desk next week — as well as the president’s controversial rhetoric has made the daily news particularly disturbing for her.
“When they push through this tax plan, it’s gonna hurt so many people. It’s gonna help a lot of really rich people. That’s who they care about. That’s who their donors are, but it’s gonna hurt,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And then obviously [fanning] the flames of white supremacy and misogyny, homophobia and everything else that is unfortunately at work.”
Mrs. Clinton also reflected on writing her new memoir, “What Happened,” as a way to understand some of her own questions on why she lost the 2016 election.
“It was a perfect storm,” she told Mrs. DeGeneres. “I mean, there were a lot of currents of resentment and anger about all kinds of things. In the country, there was a lot of sexism and misogyny, which now thankfully we’re kinda pulling out of the dark and talking about. There was voter suppression, people trying to prevent other Americans from being able to vote. There was the FBI’s intervention on Oct. 28 after I saw you, which had a devastating effect. … And then there were the Russians. The Russians were much more involved than even I understood.”
Mrs. Clinton also talked about how attending Mr. Trump’s inauguration was an “obligation” as former first lady and how she initially tried to get out of it.
“We called Jimmy Carter. We called both Bushes. They were both going. The elder Bushes ended up in the hospital. So they didn’t have to go … We were all envious,” Mrs. Clinton joked.
“We all should want every president, regardless of who that president is, to succeed,” she said. “So I went to the inauguration with that hope. It was a painful and disappointing experience. But the march the next day was really terrific. It made up for it.”
