Hillary Clinton Calls Donald Trump a "Creep" in What Happened

The former presidential candidate felt "incredibly uncomfortable" around her rival

By Zach Johnson Aug 23, 2017 12:25 PMTags
Hilary Clinton, What HappenedSimon & Schuster

Hilary Clinton has been busy since November 2016.

The former Presidential candidate inked a book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster earlier this year, and Clinton shared an excerpt from the audiobook with MSNBC Wednesday morning.

"In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I've often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net," Clinton wrote in the introduction. "Now I'm letting my guard down."

Clinton still hasn't made sense of her loss to Republican rival Donald Trump. "I don't have all the answers and this isn't a comprehensive account of the 2016 race; that's not for me to write. I have too little distance and too great a stake in it. Instead, this is my story. I want to pull back the curtain on an experience that was exhilarating, joyful, humbling, infuriating and just plain baffling. Writing this wasn't easy. Every day that I was a candidate for President, I knew that millions of people were counting on me, and I couldn't bear the idea of letting them down, but I did. I couldn't get the job done," she said. "And I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life."

Clinton vowed to cover everything, ranging from her highest highs to the lowest lows. "In this book, I write about moments from the campaign that I wish I could go back and do over. If the Russians could hack my subconscious, they'd find a long list," Clinton wrote, joking about the e-mail scandal Trump continues to mention. "I also capture some moments I want to remember forever, like when my tiny granddaughter raced into the room while I was practicing my convention speech, and what it was like hours later to step onstage to deliver that speech as the first woman ever nominated by a major political party for President of the United States."

In another chapter, Clinton wrote about the uneasiness she felt while debating Trump in October at Washington University in St. Louis. "'This is not OK,' I thought. It was the second presidential debate and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before, the world heard him brag 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. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled. It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, 'Well, what would you do?'" she said. "Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren't repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, looking 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.'"

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"I chose Option A. I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of difficult men trying to throw me off. I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard. I wonder, though, whether I should have chosen Option B. It certainly would have been better TV!" Clinton said in the audiobook (via MSNBC). "Maybe I have over-learned the lesson of staying calm, biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while, determined to present a composed face to the world."

What Happened is scheduled for release Sept. 12.

Clinton's previous books include the 2003 memoir Living History, published while she was a U.S. senator in New York, and a memoir about her years as Secretary of State, Hard Choices, which came out in 2014 as she prepared to launch her candidacy for president. As First Lady of the United States, the 69-year-old authored It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.

(E! and MSNBC are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)

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