Hillary Is Sorry If You Misinterpreted Her
Hillary Clinton provided an explanation for some recent comments she made that she understood ‘upset or offended’ some Americans – statements that drew criticism from fellow Democrats and the Trump White House alike.
‘I understand how some of what I said upset people and can be misinterpreted. I meant no disrespect to any individual or group,’ she said in a Facebook post. ‘And I want to look to the future as much as anybody.’
Clinton, on a trip to India, had talked about how her voters came from economically advantaged places in comparison to Trump voters, and also noted how white women often voted the same way as their husbands.
A number of Democrats were critical of Clinton’s remarks because they didn’t like how she portrayed red states and female voters.
The Trump White House again called her out of touch.
‘She is completely disconnected from the American public and certainly I think shows her disdain for the millions and millions of Americans who came out and voted and supported President Trump and still support him today,’ Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Thursday.
On Saturday Clinton explained that in India she was asked if Trump was a ‘virus’ or if his election was a ‘symptom’ of something deeper going on in the United States.
‘Like most Americans, people overseas remain shocked and dismayed at what they are witnessing daily,’ she began. ‘My first instinct was to defend Americans and explain how Donald Trump could have been elected.’
She told those in India that the places doing better economically tend to vote Democratic, while those doing worse off vote Republican.
‘That doesn’t mean the coasts versus the heartland, it doesn’t even mean states,’ she said. ‘In fact, it more often captures the divisions between more dynamic urban areas and less prosperous small towns within states.’
Her comments had been interpreted as an assault on red states, with one former senior Clinton aide telling the Hill newspaper that ‘she puts herself in a position where [Democrats] from states that Trump won will have to distance themselves from her even more.’
‘That’s a lot of states,’ the ex-aide pointed out.
In her Facebook note, Clinton also addressed what she had said about Trump’s campaign message.
‘As I said throughout the campaign, Trump’s messages was dark and backwards looking. I don’t need to list the reasons, but the foundation of his message, “Make America Great AGAIN” suggests that to be great we have to go back to something we are no longer,’ Clinton said. ‘I never accepted that and never will.’
In India, her comments about Trump and his voters were harsher than how she characterized them on Facebook Saturday, with her saying Trump’s call to his supporters was: ‘You didn’t like black people getting rights, you don’t like women getting jobs, you don’t want to see that Indian-American succeeding more than you are, whatever your problem is, I’m going to solve it.’
Clinton, the first female presidential nominee from a major political party, also noted how she mentioned ‘something in passing that’s gotten a lot of negative attention.’
‘That there is anecdotal evidence and some research to suggest that women are unfortunately more swayed by men than the other way around,’ she said.
When she made her comments in India, they were specifically about voting, as she suggested white women had followed their husbands’ lead in voting for Trump.
‘I did not realize how hard it would hit many who heard it,’ she said.
‘Do I believe that some women look at a powerful woman and question whether she can lead, maybe voting for the man their husband is voting for instead?’ she mused. ‘It may not be universally true or easy to hear, but yes, it’s a dynamic still at play in our society.’
‘I know this because even I spent parts of my life wondering if I could achieve the same as male leaders, and a lot of that insecurity stemmed from my gender and how society views women,’ Clinton added.
She also pointed out that she was always more popular when she was working for or defending a man, compared to when she was doing something by herself.
‘That’s the point I was making, in an effort to explain to an audience some of the many dynamics that have gone into these tumultuous last few years,’ Clinton said.
In her note, Clinton suggested she realized that her comments had become a political distraction for the Democrats yet again.
The post Hillary Is Sorry If You Misinterpreted Her appeared first on LewRockwell.
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