Coming up, we’ll have a Morning Joe Exclusive on Hillary Clinton’s new book, and here is a first look of Clinton discussing a debate. pic.twitter.com/xRkgcoTnKw
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 23, 2017
On the heels of President Donald Trump’s ludicrous rally in Phoenix, Arizona, MSNBC’s Morning Joe previewed the first excerpts from former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s highly anticipated memoir of the 2016 election, What Happened. And judging by what the chosen excerpts detail, the book — which publisher Simon & Schuster announced will “[reveal] what she was thinking during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history” — won’t be pulling its punches.
In one particularly popular passage, Clinton describes standing on the second debate stage in Trump’s vicinity was “incredibly uncomfortable” and not just because of their proximity to one another. “He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled,” she adds. “It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, well, what would you do?” Even so, she continues by saying she “kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with men trying to throw me off.”
The excerpt focuses mostly on the second debate, which operated via a “Town Hall” style that allowed the participants to roam the stage with wireless microphones. It generated plenty of infamous images of Trump standing over or awkwardly close to Clinton, so it’s no surprise the episode bothered her so much. “Well, what would you do?” she asks her readers. “Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly: ‘Back up you creep, get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.’ ”
Judging by the “success” of Tuesday night’s rally, Trump is probably still asleep — which means he hasn’t had time to tweet a response to Clinton’s memoir excerpts. (So far.)