this book isn't airing out of a lot of
things but but you come across as less
guarded was is that is that hard for you
it doesn't feel good to do it it really
does Anderson I write in the book about
how you know for so much of my time in
public life I felt like I was on this
high wire with no net I was trying to
balance so many different competing
concerns and I wanted to write a book
that would be as candid take people
behind the scenes as I possibly could
share some of what went on on the road
the kinds of activities that you do when
you're running for president especially
as a woman but also to tackle the hard
questions like what what happened in the
campaign what were the mistakes I made
which I you know talked about and what
else happened and particularly with an
eye to understanding what we need to
know so it doesn't happen again one of
the things you write about is the
inauguration and I want to just take you
back to inauguration day you're standing
inside the Capitol waiting to go out on
the platform with the former president
with former President Clinton what was
going through your mind well it was such
a surreal moment because usually a
candidate who doesn't win the election
without some other position wouldn't go
but as a former first lady you know my
husband and I go to inaugurations it's
part of the way we demonstrate
continuity of government and I really
debated whether I could do it or not
and you actually called up to Jimmy
Carter former President Carter and
George W but right our offices were in
communication with both the Carters and
and both bushes and the elder bushes
couldn't come because of ill health but
you know both George and Laura and Jimmy
and Rosalyn we're gonna go and Bill and
I just said you know we got to do this
so we were going but I can't tell you I
was looking forward to it and as we were
standing inside the door of the Capitol
before you descend the steps to go out
to the platform you know I was just
thinking of what it was like when Bill
won and what it was like when I was
there in 2001 I was a newly elected
senator but Vice President Gore had lost
and coming back when President Obama was
inaugurated there were so many memories
running through you know my mind and I
did not know what to expect and I write
in the book about how really strange it
was to sit there and to listen to the
kind of speech that was so divisive the
rhetoric was hot I call it a cry from
the white nationalist gut instead of
taking the moment to say you know what I
want to reach out and be the president
for everybody you know he didn't win the
popular vote he squeaked through in the
electoral college he had a chance to
really begin to fill the role and that
didn't happen that day I talked about
American carnage when you were saying
the steps you write in the book that you
were wishing you were anywhere else but
there anywhere else Bali maybe you know
anywhere else
gret not going to Bali no I look I am
afflicted with the responsibility gene I
did the right thing I knew I had to go
but I have to quickly add that the next
day was great you know the women's March
filled with enthusiasm and nearly 5
million people biggest ever in our
history it really lifted my spirits you
also write in the book that George W
Bush reportedly said after after the
inauguration that was some weird shit
yes and I told I said I couldn't have
agreed more you agree with that sense
right I do it was so strange I mean we
reveal your sourcing on that is she
sitting across from me right now well no
I phrased it very delicately you know it
was I went to the lunch afterwards I
mean I did everything that you're
supposed to do I went to the lunch you
also said you defend a lot of time on
the platform avoiding eye contact with
people who had been cruel to you yeah
well that terrible thing yes I mean I I
was obviously aware that there were a
lot of people there who had said
terrible things about me you know I
could hear some Locker up chants in the
distance and then on the way out I ran
into one of the you know people in the
Congress who've been pursuing me I
didn't recognize him to be and you
thought jason Chaffetz was right yes I
was leaving the platform and you know
this gentleman stuck out his hand and
you know I greeted him and I thought it
was Reince Priebus he tweeted out a
photo in fact and he said I want to get
it right tweeted out a picture saying so
please she is not the president yeah and
I said I would have liked to have said
yeah and I thought you were Reince
Priebus but anyway it you cover wannabe
job there I did call him I want to be
famous fan I am a huge limb is fan who
isn't that a thing that's ever seen it
or heard the music does that happen to
you a lot I mean people coming up to you
who have said terrible things about you
not to your face and then being very
friendly to your face I mean after the
luncheon a congressman came up to you
that's right who had called you I think
the Antichrist did called me the
Antichrist and came up to introduce his
wife to me I'd never met him before he's
now our interior secretary as I write in
the book and he could not have been
nicer in coming up to say hello wanting
to greet me and I said well you know
congressman I'm not the Antichrist and
he immediately backpedaled and oh my
goodness and and his wife could not have
been nicer but I make the point that
when you are subjected to the kind of
abuse that we see much too much of in
our politics right now both in person
and online and people feel very free
anonymously to say terrible things or
from a long distance where they don't
have to look you in the eye they don't
have to relate to you or try to figure
out you know where you stand on
something why you believe what you
believe and it's a real loss it's a loss
I mean this hyper partisanship and this
negativity that I think has been really
inflamed by the internet I've given a
lot of thought to it over the last
month's you also have a lot of people
since then since inauguration day in the
last eight months coming up to you women
coming up to you with their daughters
and saying my daughter didn't go out to
vote and sort of wanting absolution from
right
that happened to me what's more common
are people bursting into tears welling
up I had a lot of that at my book
signing yesterday here do you give
absolution to those who didn't vote to
women who didn't know I don't I look I
when it first started happening it was
so soon after the election and the
election was so
bizarre and close it was hard for me to
you know comfort somebody who was coming
to me and saying oh I wish I'd done more
or I'm sorry I didn't vote because I
think this was one of the most
consequential elections that you know we
have faced in a long time so no
absolution but of course you know I just
hope people will take what happened this
time seriously and be ready and willing
to vote the next time it seems like
you've been doing a lot of yoga
alternate nostril breathing well I tried
that page 27 in your book you talked
about alternate nostril breathing yes
what is that and dare you give me a
demonstration well I would highly
recommend it
you know I mean you're supposed to shut
your eyes I don't want to shut your ass
up my eyes on you know on national
television but you know you do hold and
you breathe through one and you hold it
and then you exhale through the other
and you keep going
I can only say based on my personal
experience that if you're sitting
cross-legged on the yoga mat and you're
doing it and you're really trying to
inhale and hold it and then have a long
exhale it is very relaxing so I don't if
you can do it in the middle of hurricane
coverage but maybe some other moments
you can try it I found it quite helpful
I want to talk to you about Jim coming
when when Comey said that he was
reopening the investigation you believe
that is the day that effectively your
campaign was over well that you lost I
believe based on a lot of evidence and a
lot of assessments by other good
analysts Nate Silver being one that yes
that was the determinate of day because
it stopped my momentum I don't blame
voters for wondering what the heck was
going on you have the FBI director
saying what he said and it was a you
know terrible time to try to break
through the last days of a campaign when
you had this hanging over my head and it
wasn't really lifted until the Sunday
before the election and you had people
early voting believing that oh my gosh
there really is something here I knew
there wasn't and I
that it was hard to understand why he
didn't just call me and others up and
say hey can we look at this you feel you
had been making progress winning back
white women voters
I believe well I'll give you one quick
example that I write about not my
polling but other polling I was leading
about 25 26 points in the Philadelphia
suburbs that could not have happened if
I hadn't had a lot of women and a lot of
Republican women independent women
saying that they were going to vote for
me telling pollsters that I won those
suburbs by 13 points that's a huge loss
and I needed to win by probably about
eighteen to counterbalance what happens
in the rest of the state which is
something that we all knew going in but
you know I talk about this in the book
because I do want to answer questions
that people might have but what I think
is important is to really take a candid
hard look about you know what the
factors were I hope nobody ever faces
what I faced with respect to that but
whoever runs again probably starting in
2018 will face Russian interference may
face coordination between opposition
campaigns and Russians will face voter
suppression will face endemic sexism and
misogyny and part of why I wrote this
book was not only to come to grips with
what I think happened but to send up
some you know alarm signals so that
others can say hey wait a minute these
factors could affect anybody and
eventually Republicans could be affected
some of your critics when they hear you
talk about misogyny they say they roll
their eyes and say look that's that's an
excuse
that in this day and age we had an
african-american president but there's a
big difference between what motivates
voters on race and what doesn't motivate
voters on gender most people in my
position who have run for office
particularly at the state level for
senator governor and certainly my
experience is running for president you
don't like to raise this because you
don't want people to think hey you know
you're making excuses but I decided to
raise it I write a whole chapter about
it because I think if we don't confront
it especially given the
words and actions of our current
president it could be a big backlash
that will undermine a lot of young women
and their own futures and now we know
it's not just in politics it's in
Silicon Valley it's in businesses
evolved Sheryl Sandberg good yes you
believe that there's a double standard
that women who when when you were
Secretary of State and you were seen as
working for somebody else's interests
the United States interests you were
very popular poll showed you were not
69% at the end of my tenure but that
when you were seen as working for
yourself as a candidate mm-hm
there's a different viewpoint and
Anderson it's not just what I believe as
you mentioned Sheryl Sandberg who's just
delved into all the research that we
possibly have about these issues when a
man is professionally successful he is
seen as more likeable as a woman becomes
more professionally successful she is
seen as less likeable as you point out
when a woman advocates for someone else
in my position as Secretary of State for
my country for the president I was
serving you know people can really like
you like the job you're doing I'm the
exact same person and then all of a
sudden I step into the arena it's true
even with something as mundane as if a
woman goes to the to her employer and
advocates a raise for someone else she's
seen as a great team player leadership
and all the rest if she goes and
advocates for herself it counts against
her whereas if a man goes and advocates
for himself
hey you know the guy's got guts he's
willing to step up and ask for what he
wants you said about Jim Comey that he
shaved you yeah which is a very I mean
that's a strong word it is a strongly
and it also implies that this was a
personal or that he was trying to get
you he's never been clear about his
motivation and what bothered me the most
as the time went on after the election
is and we learned more about the open
FBI investigation into the Trump
campaign and their connections with
Russia that had been going on for quite
some time the American people didn't
know about it he was specifically
asked why didn't you tell the American
people about that investigation and he
said well because it was too close to an
election so ask yourself a closed
investigation that ended the prior July
an ongoing investigation into the Trump
campaign and Russia one deserves to be
blown out of all proportion nothing to
be found one more time and the American
people don't have the information that
there's a legitimate investigation going
on about Trump and Russia before they
vote do you think it is personal I have
no idea I can't sit here and tell you I
know that there had to be some pressure
on him because Rudy Giuliani announced
two days before that letter came out
that something big was coming in two
days and people have speculated was he
under pressure from Giuliani and others
within the FBI or the broader
law-enforcement community
I don't speculate on it I just talked
about how really hard to understand it
was and the impact that it had one of
the things though that director Comey
gave for that press conference in July
was the meeting that your husband had on
the tarmac with the Attorney General
attorney general Lynch you write about
it in the book but what you don't
mention in the book is what you said to
your husband when you heard about that
meeting I didn't hear about it for days
because it was so inconsequential to
both of them and then when I heard about
it I didn't really think much of it and
I think this was a rationalization that
was used for being able to do what he
did but you know what's important to me
going forward is as I say I think it's
important to focus on what happened
because lessons can be learned but the
more important lessons that will affect
our democracy going forward or not about
him and his investigation he I think
forever changed history but that's in
the past what's important is the fact
that the Russians are still going at us
he himself admitted that before Congress
people I really respect like Jim clapper
and John Brennan and others who knew
what the Russians were doing have been
sounding the alarm I will tell you this
Anderson if
I had been elected president under the
same circumstances so that you know I
lost the popular vote I squeaked through
the electoral college and evidence came
up that the Russians for whatever reason
were trying to help me I would have said
on the first day in office we're gonna
launch the most thorough investigation
no nation particularly an adversary
nation can mess with our democracy I
would have had an independent commission
I would have done everything I could to
get to the bottom of it because it's not
going to stop that's what I'm worried
about in the USA today when asked about
collusion between the Trump campaign and
Russia you said quote I'm convinced of
it so I just want to be clear you're
convinced there was collusion well let
me say if I'm convinced there was
communication I'm convinced there were
meetings and phone calls I'm convinced
that there were financial entanglements
let's let's wait to see what it's called
I'm convinced that there was something
going on and let's put that though let's
put the investigation to one side
because indeed I have a lot of
confidence in the Special Counsel I
don't know what he's going to end up
with he's a very honorable man if
there's nothing there there's nothing
there if there is I think he'll tell us
put that to one side because that's
ongoing it almost doesn't matter
our president whoever our president is
should be defending our country and
should be standing up and saying nobody
messes with America we are not going to
tolerate that we don't hear any of that
coming from the White House because of
Russia's role do you think there should
be an asterisk next to President Trump's
name in the history books look I don't
know we don't know we don't have all the
facts yet what I believe we now know
they paid for facebook ads and those
were disseminated broadly we know that
they had access to targeting and data
information from somewhere maybe
internally maybe helped externally we
know that they had Russians pretending
to be Americans who were online and
in-person trying to foment negative
stories about me and positive ones about
Trump we know there was a huge amount of
content being produced in places like
Macedonia we know that WikiLeaks which
is basically
a front now for Putin was more than
willing to publish stolen emails from
the DNC from John Podesta and that then
those emails were weaponized with
ridiculous absurd untrue stories being
churned out on and on so there's a lot
we know already your fuck you follow
this extremely closely what I started
following this back in the summer of
2016 because there was something going
on when the DNC hack happened you know
we had a huge political crisis when
Republicans physically broke in to the
Democratic Party's records back in the
so-called watergate years this is a
different kind of theft and it's do you
think this is bigger than Watergate I
think it's probably bigger than
Watergate because it is about the future
you know we no longer are worried about
you know spies and provocateurs with you
know dressed in black with gloves
breaking into a an office and stealing
information they do it sitting in the
offices of the Russian you know military
intelligence and other related venues
and they get into what is the core of
our life now through the computer
network as you know though Republicans
will say no vote was ever changed this
did not affect the outcome well I would
say two things this was a highly
sophisticated influence operation I
believe it did affect people's votes you
think it cost you votes I think it cost
me votes the fact that those emails were
were don't those were they well and that
they were were weaponized so in the book
I write about how if you go look at
Google searches particularly in some of
the battleground states during October
and you listen to Trump's speeches where
he mentioned WikiLeaks I think 160 times
they clearly knew that stories that were
making stuff up trying to use the emails
were permeating Facebook and other sites
the worst of them was this pizza gate
story where honest to goodness out of
whole cloth made up they took the word
pizza out of one of John Podesta Z mails
and
that he and I were running a child
trafficking ring in a poor little pizza
parlor in Washington
it sounds absurd millions of people were
exposed to that the horrible hit job
total lies about the Clinton Foundation
people were affected by that because we
could see that the wikileaks searches in
a lot of places that were historically
kind of swing counties were really
rising i think the influence did affect
individual voters what we don't know yet
and we are only beginning to get
evidence of is why were the russians
intruding into our voter registration
rolls but do you think this Russian
interference was not enough to have cost
the election if director Comey hadn't
reopened that investigation that's what
I believe I believe though it became a
perfect storm reopening it which caused
people once again to be obsessed with
emails and then Podesta's emails being
used to drive all this negative story
about me I think it came together to
really kind of make some people queasy
like oh my gosh what if she goes to jail
I heard that so many times I've talked
to reporters who were out there covering
the campaign to the very end and people
would say things like you know I like
her and I think she's done a good job
but what if she's in jail and you know I
knew that that was happening but I
thought we would ride it out I want to
ask you about the second debate
yeah which took place two days and you
were there and I want to thank you I
want to thank you Anderson I'm hard on
the press as you know from reading the
book in many ways but a couple of people
come in for you know good descriptions
and praise and I thought the way you
started that debate what you said in the
beginning needed to be said and I I
really appreciated that well what you're
referencing is is my first question to
President Trump which was you know
describing what he had talked about he
described as lack or inventor and I said
that is sexual assault or do you do you
understand that we wrestled as a
co-moderator we wrestled with how to
handle the access hollywood tape i'm
wondering when the access hollywood tape
came out two days before this debate did
you wrestle with what to say about it
well first of all we were shocked and
and we were you know totally
surprised that something like that
existed and that had come out and we did
wrestle with it because we wanted to let
people see it we didn't want to get in
the way of people being able to draw
their own conclusions but we also you
know wanted to you know reference it
because I found it very troubling both
personally and politically do you
understand women who voted for Donald
Trump as president even though they
heard what he said on the accident do
you respect women who voted for Donald
Trump after the accident here's what I
would say about that I think what
happened after that tape which was
wall-to-wall coverage certainly affected
a lot of people and I think a lot of
women were very concerned about that and
I knew that it would be tough to I won
women I won all women but I lost white
women and I knew that would be tough but
I ended up actually getting more white
women's votes than President Obama had
in 2012 so this is not just a problem
for me this was a longer term Democratic
nominee problem so I knew I was going to
have to work hard on it and when that
happened and the way really it was a
horrific two to three days story and
then it sort of dropped because remember
within an hour of that tape going public
release WikiLeaks dropped John Podesta Z
mails I struggled with that I thought
why would somebody find what largely I
think could be described as boring
anodyne emails more significant than
words coming out of trumps mouth also at
that debate there was there it was the
most tense room I've ever been in for
the first 30 minutes certainly at the
debate you didn't shake hands with each
other and there was the physicality of
Donald Trump walking around the stage
I'm just wondering what was going
through your mind at that point well as
I write you know I prepared for him to
try to use his size and his presence to
intimidate me as I was walking out to
get on the debate that's something you
would actually press I had practiced and
you know one of the members of my team
said
remember he's trying to get inside your
head I said yeah you think because I
knew that the best way he could respond
given what that tape showed was to try
to assert you know the the the alpha
male
it's just locker room talk stuff so we
we practiced that and I concluded after
practicing it that I needed to just
remain calm and composed because if I
said anything that acknowledged it I was
afraid that it would look like I
couldn't take it that I wasn't you know
really tough enough that this guy was
looming over me I should just be able to
proceed that's what I did
in retrospect in writing the book I
thought you know because my head was
like running all through the debate like
this is really discomforting this is
weird I've debated other people what
he's doing is deliberately meant to
throw me off maybe I should say
something you know I turn around you're
not going to intimidate me back off you
creep but I concluded no I wanted to
remain composed you know it was judged I
was attracting for you it was obviously
you weren't looking at him no did you
see him out of the corner your eyes you
could I mean you could feel the presence
and you know maybe it's a skill that
women particularly develop because you
know we have to be aware of our
surroundings I certainly was aware of
him and and you know I won the debate
according to the analysts and all the
rest of that but as I say in the book I
think that what he did and what he tried
to do and his insulting me like calling
me a nasty woman in the third debate all
of that played to his base so both the
men and women who were in his base in
the Republican base
they were rationalizing their support
for him all the time it was like well
yeah it's probably his locker room oh my
gosh you know look the director of the
FBI says she may go to jail okay well
locker room isn't as bad as that so
there was a constant weighing back and
forth and at the end he got 90% of the
Republican vote I got 90% of the
Democratic vote and it was in part
because I think a lot of people who
voted for him well he won't really be
like that as president
and besides we want our tax cuts and we
want to make sure that we get a Supreme
Court justice so I think there was heavy
rationalization going on in that last
month you spent a lot of time in the
book talking about how much comfort your
husband gave you throughout the campaign
and yeah and obvious in the last couple
of months you wrote I know some people
wonder why we're still together that we
must have an arrangement we do it's
called a marriage that I helped him
become president and then stayed so he
could help me become president know that
we lead completely separate lives and
it's just a marriage on paper now he's
reading over my shoulder in our kitchen
with our dogs underfoot I wonder why you
felt the need to include that in the
book you know I talked about Bill I
talked about Chelsea and I talked about
my mother and I talked about my friends
because in the book on second in the
book I have a chapter called on being a
woman in politics where I really do try
to take on sexism and misogyny but I
also wanted to make it clear first of
all that putting yourself out there in
politics in public life can be immensely
rewarding but that's not all that's
important in life by any means and so I
wanted to you really again kind of pull
the curtain back and say you know I lost
a presidential campaign that I thought I
was going to win it was devastating but
I have so many blessings in my life
starting with my husband and the life we
built together you also wrote that
during the what you describe as the dark
days of your marriage the two questions
you asked herself was do I still love
him and can i still be in this marriage
without becoming unrecognizable to
myself were those easy questions to
answer they were really hard questions
you know anybody alive in America at
that time knows how difficult that
period was and you know I I really had
to struggle and I had a lot of angst you
know I had to fall back on my faith and
my family my friends but I wasn't going
to be making a decision that other
people wanted me to make or that public
pressure was you know coming in on me
I'm gonna make my decision and it was
based on those two questions and you
know the life we had built together and
I'm very glad that that's the way I
chose to continue my life Chelsea
wynton was a surrogate during before you
during the campaign Ivanka Trump was a
surrogate for for president Trump if you
had won with Chelsea Clinton have an
office in the West Wing would she be
able to drop in on meetings with
congressional leaders no but it wouldn't
even cross her mind she's got a very
active life she's written a couple of
great books and is it appropriate you
know it's up to a president decide who
is or is not welcomed in any meeting
that's up to a president and I you know
can only speak for myself and the White
House has I've been in and the work that
I've done and I think there's not enough
expertise and experience yet in the
White House right now I think does it
concern you that Jared Kushner was
somebody you worked as Secretary of
State who worked obviously on Middle
East peace does it concern that Jared
Kushner is seems to be the point person
on well it concerns me that the deep
well of experience and expertise that
our country has to offer our foreign
service has to offer that outside
experts have to offer is largely being
disregarded and you know if you look at
what's happening in North Korea we need
to have an intensive diplomatic effort
that requires people who know the
culture know the history know the
languages that are involved I don't see
that happening and then you can pick
anywhere else in the world and draw the
same conclusion so we are not engaging
in statecraft the way we need to it's
not that individuals can't be part of
teams who may have different expertise
or perspectives that's fine but teams
need to be led by people who understand
the history and how we got to where we
are in order to make progress in the
book you make no attempt to hide your
displeasure about the electoral college
and you say on page 386 you say the
godforsaken Elektro you mentioned
winning the popular vote obviously
multiple times in the book yes do you
think the electoral college should be
abolished I said that in 2000 after what
happened to the 2000 election with Al
Gore I was elected to the Senate that
same year and if you look at our recent
history we've had several candidates
nominees who have won the popular vote
and lost the electoral college what does
that say and it says that an anachronism
that was designed for another time no
longer works if we've moved toward
one-person one-vote that's how we select
winners I was amused after the French
elections when I was listening to an
interview with a French electoral expert
and he said well unlike your country the
person who wins the most votes wins so I
think it needs to be eliminated I'd like
to see us move beyond it yes
the you also mentioned in the book that
after you realize you'd lost you thought
about all the locker option
yes and that Donald Trump had said it
actually was at the second debate Donald
Trump said he if he was president you
would be in jail is that something you
seriously worried about well I knew I
had no reason to worry about it but I
worried that he might make that effort
you can't predict what he might do
that's one of the lessons I think we've
seen so far in this presidency but you
know I like so much else I just kind of
moved beyond that I got interested in
cleaning my closets and you know taking
long walks in the woods things that
helped me recover from that loss do you
think Donald Trump has moved beyond the
election are you I mean he does talk
about you still or not a lot yes he does
talk about me quite a bit I don't know I
would think he'd have a lot more
important things to spend his time on
he's got you know crises all around the
world to deal with he's got divisive
nough sin our country he's got the
terrible events of Charlottesville and
so much else going on that I think he
should be focused on rather than
constantly trying to take potshots at me
or at President Obama he does that quite
often too just a couple quick other
questions senator Sanders obviously he
has a strong voice now and the
Democratic Party comes under a lot of
criticism from you in the book what
political sin did he commit other than
choosing to run against you well it's
not the political sin he committed it
was the failure to move quickly to unify
the party and his supporters and I know
a little bit about this after it was
clear that yes it was clear I was going
to be the nominee like in March or April
it was beyond any doubt in June
and in a way we ran a much closer
tougher primary contest between
President Obama and myself it was really
close and I immediately endorsed him and
I went to work for him I spent countless
hours Anderson convincing my supporters
who felt equally aggrieved that they had
to support Barack Obama I was still
arguing with big rooms of supporters at
the Denver convention I didn't get that
same you know respect and reciprocity
from senator Sanders or from his
supporters they're still you know
incredibly divisive and I'm interested
in what he can do to help elect
Democrats he's not a Democrat he he
makes that clear but we need to do
everything possible to win the
governorships in New Jersey and Virginia
this year and we need to do everything
possible to flip the Congress in 2018 he
could be helpful if he so chose and
that's what I'm calling on him to do do
you think Donald Trump will be a
candidate in 2020 well he's already got
a committee open he's raising a lot of
money so I think he thinks he will be
and we'll have to wait and see what
happens to those who hear you they you
know hear interviews you've done see the
book coming out and think is this really
what the Democratic Party needs that
there's do that they need fresh
leadership they need new voices they
need new people entering the arena and
that by you being on the stage in such a
public way it it hampers that oh I don't
buy that at all I think you know from my
perspective I have a lot of experience
and expertise and insight that I'm
sharing with the world and particularly
with Democrats I've got a new
organization called onward together I'm
supporting young grassroots groups that
have sprung up to recruit candidates
train them run them fund them I'm going
to be supporting candidates so I may be
out of politics as a candidate but I am
still deeply committed to doing anything
I can to make sure that we don't lose
ground to this divisive bigotry and bias
and Prejudice and and you know favoring
the the wealthy and the well-connected
over everybody else that I see as the
agenda of this White House
General Michael Hayden I have him on my
show a lot and you know he has a
lifetime in intelligence work one of the
things he talks about is the thin veneer
of civilization and that he is very
concerned that it is a very thin veneer
that we think our institutions are so
solid that our democracy is so secure
that nothing can upset and nothing can
wipe away that thin veneer of
civilization do you worry about that I
worry about it all the time I've heard
Mike Hayden talked to you about that
and I know he's written about it and
it's a very serious sober warning you
know civilization in part is the
institutionalization of the rule of law
of minority rights of a free press of
the kinds of incredible guarantees that
we made as a nation from our very
founding civilization also requires
leadership so that when people start
engaging in white supremacy talk and
they parade as neo-nazis and they are in
the Ku Klux Klan and and they are
unbridled on the internet with their
racist and sexist and other kinds of
insulting comments we need leadership at
the highest levels of our government to
say that's not acceptable part of what
makes us this dynamic extraordinary
country which I'm very optimistic about
long-term is our diversity is the fact
that we've brought people together from
all over to be part of the American
Dream in the American experiment so our
civilization which has the attributes of
the kind of institutional supports and
democracy and citizenship and voting
being absolutely core to that has to be
defended internally and externally and
I'm just hoping that more people and
particularly more Republicans will speak
up because if we begin to see the
erosion of the rule of law and the
erosion of our our voting system and so
much else that's not going to stop by
hurting Democrats for heaven's sakes
that hurts our entire country and
undermines who we are as Americans so I
think that people like Mike Hayden and
as many others as possible need to be
speaking out and standing up and saying
just that Secretary Clinton thanks very
much thanks
