If you’re still wondering how Donald Trump, a man whose approval rating sits at 36 percent in a September 6 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, ever became president, well, here’s a clue: That same poll has Hillary Clinton’s approval rating at 30 percent.
Mrs. Clinton, though, is still operating on the assumption that the public’s dislike of her is all a big misunderstanding. She’s about to launch a tour for the book telling her version of 2016 events that is both appropriately and amusingly titled: What Happened.
But even under an entirely dysfunctional Trump administration, Democrats are still having a difficult time uniting their center and left factions. The general consensus is that Clinton’s desire to reenter the spotlight with a book tour is not helpful, and the book’s finger-pointing at her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, threatens to further widen the rift in the party.
Herewith a smattering of anonymous quotes from Democratic insiders, officeholders, Obama administration members, and Clinton associates that have recently appeared in stories about Clinton’s new book:
“She’s doing harm to all of us because of her own selfishness. Honestly, I wish she’d just shut the [expletive] up and go away.”
“None of this is good for the party. . . . It’s the Hillary Show, 100 percent. A lot of us are scratching our heads and wondering what she’s trying to do. It’s certainly not helpful.”
“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.”
“There is a collective groan whenever there’s another news cycle about this.”
And those quotations are from Clinton’s ostensible allies. Sanders supporters have been positively brutal. “While Trump has been ripping the country apart, [Clinton] has been taking long walks in the woods, drinking chardonnay, hobnobbing with celebrities and writing a book that entirely ignores the failure of the party establishment over a decade or two,” progressive activist Jonathan Tasini told the Hill.
Not that any of the public criticism matters. We suspect Clinton is reemerging now for the same reason she has done many inadvisable things: As we noted in this space last week, “VIP Platinum” tickets for the meet-and-greet at the Toronto stop on her book tour are being hawked for a mere $3,000 (Canadian).
