What Happened?
WASHINGTON D.C., - Hillary Clinton released a new book about her experience in the 2016 election on September 12. In over 500 pages, she wrote how Trump, Putin, Sanders, Comey, sexism and herself stopped her from becoming President of the United States.
The book has received mixed reviews. Amazon deleted over a thousand reviews of people who didn't read the book. The book is number 6 on the New York Times Bestseller list and has a 3.5 star average on Amazon.
Many Republicans are happy Hillary Clinton’s book comes at a time when the government can play hide-and-seek around DACA and tax reform. Democrats seem to think that there is no use reliving the past, no matter how painful it may be. “Maybe at the worst possible time, as we are fighting some of the most high-stakes policy and institutional battles we may ever see, at a time when we’re trying to bring the party together so we can all move the party forward — stronger, stronger together,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat who represents a Northern California district. “She’s got every right to tell her story. Who am I to say she shouldn’t, or how she should tell it? But it is difficult for some of us, even like myself who’ve supported her, to play out all these media cycles about the blame game, and the excuses.”
A main take away from What Happens is the world is still a very sexist place, “This has to be said,” she wrote. “Sexism and misogyny played a role in the 2016 presidential election. Exhibit A is that the flagrantly sexist candidate won.” Clinton repeatedly says that a large part of her failure to claim the presidency is because she is a woman, "A lot of people said they just didn't like me. I write that matter-of-factly, but believe me, it's devastating," Clinton writes. "But I think there's another explanation for the skepticism I've faced in public life. I think it's partly because I'm a woman.
Democrats and Socialists alike have been shocked by the blame Hillary Clinton placed on Bernie Sanders, "His attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign," she writes. She goes on to blame Sanders for playing the “purist” but says he has no plan on crucial issues like racial justice and reproductive rights. "It was beyond frustrating that Bernie acted as if he had a monopoly on political purity and that he had set himself up as the sole arbiter of what it meant to be a progressive," she says, "despite giving short shrift to important issues such as immigration, reproductive rights, racial justice and gun safety." Although she didn't consider him a serious opponent, Sanders took votes that Clinton says should be hers, "I admit I didn't expect Bernie to catch on as much as he did," she continues. "I nevertheless found campaigning against him to be profoundly frustrating."
Clinton also says she didn't get the same support from Sanders and his following that she gave him in the 2008 election, “I didn’t get that respect from him [Sanders] and his supporters.” Sanders responded last Sunday saying that not all the same people voting for him would definitely vote for Clinton,“Let me just say this: I worked as hard as I could after endorsing Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Sanders said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I went all over this country. And I would remind people—people say, ‘Well, not everyone who voted for Bernie ended up voting for Hillary.’ No kidding.”
The White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders had one word for What Happens, “sad”. “Whether or not he's [Trump] going to read Hillary Clinton's book, I'm not sure. I would think he's pretty well-versed on what happened, and I think it's pretty clear to all of America,”
