Failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton promised to help her party regain political ground ahead of the 2018 midterm election cycle, warning leaving President Trump unchecked would allow him to become “even more authoritarian.”
“I think that Trump left to his own devices unchecked would become even more authoritarian that he has tried to be,” Clinton said in an interview for podcast “Pod Save America” that aired Tuesday. “I am going to do everything I can with the most intense focus on 2018 that I possibly can bring to bear.”
Clinton during the podcast — designed to promote her new book, “What Happened” — apportioned blame to the media for her shocking loss in 2016, saying the press cared more about “the entertainment value” of Trump than reporting on her economic message.
They all thought I was going to win, the former secretary of state continued.
“If I’d lost to a Republican, a normal Republican, of course I’d be disappointed and I’d be really upset with myself but this is beyond anything I had imagined,” she said. “I should have thrown some more insults or advocated for some more crazy stuff.”
Clinton slammed her Democratic presidential primary opponent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for not bowing out gracefully after she secured the party’s nomination, a courtesy she said she gave former President Obama in 2008.
“I didn’t get anything like that respect from Sanders and his supporters and it hurt,” she said. “But why would we be surprised? He’s not a Democrat.”
Embracing and defending Obama’s record “put me in a bit of a straitjacket,” Clinton said before adding that Russia’s attempts to influence the outcome of the race was motivated by the fact “she was the candidate.”
