Clinton: Trump was ‘literally breathing down my neck’ in debate
Hillary Clinton is releasing a new book next month called What Happened, which details her recollection of how she lost the 2016 presidential election.
In the book, she described the awkward moment in the second presidential debate in which her opponent, Donald Trump, seemed to be looming behind her while she was answering a question, following her around the stage. This was just two days after the infamous tape was released in which he bragged about groping women.
“Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces,” she wrote. “It was incredibly uncomfortable.”
She said that the most awkward moment in the debate wasn’t when they refused to shake hands but when he was standing just behind her during her answer.
“My skin crawled,” she recalled. “It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, Well, what would you do?”
She then wrote about how she felt that she had two options: remaining calm or telling Trump, “I know you love to intimidate women but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.”
“I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with men trying to throw me off,” she continued. “I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard.”
However, now, Clinton isn’t sure this was the right choice.
“I wonder, though, whether I should have chosen option B,” she wrote. “It certainly would have been better TV.”
“Maybe I have overlearned the lesson of staying calm, smiling all the while, determined to present a composed face to the world.”
Excerpts from the audiobook, which was read by Clinton herself, were obtained by and played on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
