NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton told supporters she’s “sorry” she didn’t win the election, adding “this is painful, and it will be for a long time.”
The Democratic presidential candidate delivered what her campaign billed as a concession speech to Republican Donald Trump after his upset victory in Tuesday’s election.
Addressing stricken staff and voters at a New York City hotel, Clinton urged acceptance of Trump’s stunning win after a campaign that appeared poised until Election Day to make her the first woman elected U.S. president. She asked supporters to accept the results, saying they owe Trump an “open mind” and a “chance to lead.” She told supporters American democracy depends on the “peaceful transition of power.”
“I still believe in America, and I always will,” she said.
Clinton also acknowledged the U.S. is “more deeply divided than we thought.”
Flanked by husband Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky, Clinton’s voice vibrated with emotion at times, especially as acknowledged that she had not “shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling.”
Clinton then made a direct plea to “all the little girls” watching: “Never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every opportunity in the world and chance to pursue your dreams.”
The speech followed a dramatic election night in which Trump captured battleground states like Florida, North Carolina and Ohio and shattered a longstanding “blue wall” of states in the Upper Midwest that had backed every Democratic presidential candidate since her husband, Bill Clinton, won the presidency in 1992.
Democrats — starting with Clinton’s campaign and the White House — were left wondering how they misread their country so completely. Mournful Clinton backers gathered outside the hotel Wednesday.
“I was devastated. Shocked. Still am,” said Shirley Ritenour, 64, a musician from Brooklyn. “When I came in on the subway this morning there were a lot of people crying. A lot of people are very upset.”
The results were startling to Clinton and her aides, who had ended their campaign with a whirlwind tour of battleground states and had projected optimism that she would maintain the diverse coalition assembled by President Barack Obama in the past two elections.
On the final day of the campaign, Clinton literally followed Obama to stand behind a podium with a presidential seal at a massive rally outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
As she walked up to the lectern, the president bent down to pull out a small stool so the shorter Clinton could address the tens of thousands gathered on the mall. Before leaving the stage, Obama leaned over to whisper a message in Clinton’s ear: “We’ll have to make this permanent.”
Clinton’s stunning loss was certain to open painful soul-searching within the party, which had endured a lengthy primary between Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who drew strong support among liberals amid an electorate calling for change.
With files from the National Post
I just want to say something super briefly about my mom. She has loved Hillary Clinton for as long as I can remember. They’re the same age. And I think she saw in Clinton proof that, for all the garbage women of her generation went through—plenty of which my mother went through herself—they could still survive and thrive. I haven’t spoken to her yet today. I’m not sure I can face that yet. But I’m sure she’s devastated in a deeply personal way about what happened here, about having to watch Clinton get so close again, and fall so painfully short to someone like Donald Trump.
So that’s it. For now. Hillary Clinton, a political force for my entire life, is done. She went out I thought with pretty remarkable poise. I remember covering a tight city council race , years ago, and just watching the emotional toil that it had on the incumbent. I actually can’t fathom how heavier something like this would be. At some point the emotional scale has to top out, right?
Clinton implicitly called for opposition to Trump by emphasizing that America is for everyone, men and women, LGBT and with disabilities. Gone is the aggressive rhetoric from the campaign that Trump is a unique and existential threat, that he is a puppet of Putin.
It would be totally out of whack with political norms to do anything other than what Clinton did (by eloquently conceding) but it does make me wonder what Clinton is going to do to oppose Trump when he starts trying to implement his campaign promises. Here’s the American Civil Liberties Union’s plan:
Should President-elect Donald Trump attempt to implement his unconstitutional campaign promises, we'll see him in court.
— ACLU National (@ACLU) November 9, 2016
Clinton ends with a quote from scripture. Her politics started in a Methodist church in Chicago, so it’s fitting her career in public office will end that way.
Her voice breaks as she tells women, particularly young women, that “nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.” But she regains control and forges on. Self-possessed.
“To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance an opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”
“This loss hurts. But please, never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.”
It is unbelievable, watching this, that her temperament was an actual question in this campaign. You can dislike her for a tonne of reasons. But her ability to take just about anything in stride seems pretty much beyond any doubt, right?
Clinton gives a shoutout to Pantsuit Nation – a secret Facebook group of supporters. “I want everyone coming out from behind that and make sure your voices are heard going forward.” She says to young women, “We need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives.”
Clinton says, to young people: “This loss hurts but please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it”. Young white people abandoning her hurt her a lot this election.
Is it possible Clinton is relieved not to have won?
Many have to be watching this in utter incredulity that she lost. She’s showing incredible grace and poise, I think.
Zane, dude, she’d be 74 by the next election. There will not be a President Hillary Clinton. This is it.
Will it hit at some point that everything, all of it, ends here? It doesn’t quite look like it has yet. Or it might just be that she’s better at hiding it than Kaine and Bill. They seem shocked. She seems, well, like her.
I tweeted this earlier but I think it’s an important point: Clinton has long taken pages from Elearnor Roosevelt when she’s down or under attack. Roosevelt’s “A woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong she is until she in hot water,” is one of Clinton’s favourites.
But when she fell into a hole during her husband’s first term in the White House, a pit those close to her say she struggled to get out of, it was this Roosevelt line she turned to, “When I feel depressed, I go to work.”
Don’t expect her to sit back. She’s going to keep working for women, for children, for people of colour and those with disabilities, just as she says.
This is the end of a unprecedented political career, no matter what.
Is it? She came back from losing in 2008. I think the Democrats would be insane to nominate her again in 2020 but that doesn’t mean she won’t go for it.
I mean, I don’t know what it would do to a person to be that involved in politics at that level for that long. I’m watching her and wondering how all of that must be bleeding in to this moment.
This is the end of a unprecedented political career, no matter what. Has anyone ever taken more hits, over a longer stretch, than she has?
Clinton now implicitly warning against Trump: “America is big enough for everyone”; LGBT Americans, women, men, disabled people. Everyone.
She’s a great speaker when she has emotion behind it. Kind of a shame in retrospect.
Clinton says Donald Trump “deserves an open mind”. Gone are the accusations that he’s a puppet of Vladimir Putin.
Grace and poise. Wow.
“I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too… this is painful and it will be for a long time,” Clinton says, her voice is breaking. Then she calls for a country that finds its inclusive spirit, it’s big heart, and for people to come together.
See! She’s not a robot dragon lady.
Clinton says: “this is painful and will be for a long time”. That’s real emotion from her.
Bill Clinton looks heartbroken.
I wonder if she has a holiday planned.
Yes in a friendly nation that will protect her.
Clinton says she hopes Trump “will be a successful President for all Americans.”
Clinton looking quite chipper, under the circumstances. I wonder if she has a holiday planned.
Bill looks more wrecked than Hillary.
Clinton looks way more composed than Kaine, as did her top aide Huma Abedin. I guess being told to “smile more” your whole life has its benefits.
“They killed us, but they ain’t whooped us yet.”
That’s definitely the first time I’ve ever seen a standing O for William Faulkner at a political event.
Here she is.
“We know that the work remains,” Kaine says.
In Pennsylvania, anti-Trump protestors were in the streets early this morning:
The chanting comes in waves here. The latest: "No KKK, no fascist U.S.A, no Trump." @ThePittNews pic.twitter.com/gAWtNMgscO
— J. Dale Shoemaker (@JDale_Shoemaker) November 9, 2016
Kaine looks like he’s about to fall over, or start crying. Can you blame him?
Kaine: “Nobody had to wonder about Hillary Clinton whether she would accept the outcome of an election in our beautiful country. Nobody had to ask that question.”
Nancy Pelosi – current Democratic leader in the House – issues statement stressing importance of peaceful transfer of power as Kaine points out “nobody has to doubt” whether Clinton would respect the result.
The peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of our democracy; we have a responsibility to come together. https://t.co/Wx0dyDzpXu pic.twitter.com/noha2T3tbA
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) November 9, 2016
Tim Kaine is now lauding Hillary Clinton. Notes that she won the popular vote. Says it’s an amazing accomplishment – which it is. How completely bizarre that an earthquake in American and global politics so fundamental… can come about with the popular vote favouring the loser. Albeit only by a slight margin.
Forced clapping – as only U.S. politics can do – is peppered through Kaine speech as he thanks Clinton’s team.
Kaine is always low energy but he seems particularly dejected and out-of-sorts now.
Tim Kaine is up first.
I can’t recall a campaign in my lifetime with such anonymous VPs. I barely remember Kaine at the convention, and I was there, on the floor, watching him.
He seems either exhausted or heartbroken or both this morning. His voice strained and just a tiny bit loopy.
Kaine opens with the positives: Clinton was the first female presidential nominee of a major party and won the popular vote.
Interesting tweet from John McCain – an attempt to assure those wary of Trump’s win?
Congrats to President-Elect Donald Trump – as Chrmn of Armed Services Cmte I'll work to confront nat'l security challenges & support troops
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) November 9, 2016
Hillary Clinton supporters await her remarks this morning. That little girl’s face… (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
CNN keeps saying this is the most difficult speech Hillary Clinton has ever given in her life. You think?
Paul Ryan says Trump “has a mandate.”
But what will he do with it? His policy positions were vague or fantastical? Will the experienced politicians around Trump run the show or will his free-wheeling ways continue into the Oval Office.
On the question of Trump being vengeful, one surrogate offers a hint:
Omarosa: Trump already has an enemies list https://t.co/QQ5FunrZBX via @usatoday
— Nick Turse (@nickturse) November 9, 2016
Ryan essentially saying: Trump winning changes everything. All that stuff I said about him before… it’s all not really relevant any more because Trump is a winner now.
“We have to wonder if he will hold his job as Speaker of the House given the antipathy between him and Trump throughout the campaign.”
Biggest unanswered question. Well, one of them I guess. How vengeful will Trump be in settling scores with all those who criticized, opposed, were embarrassed to be seen with him – like Ryan – the media, Republicans who spurned him, etc. I think it would be naive to imagine that accession to great power, with a subservient House and Senate, will change Trump for the better. But I guess we have to hope. There being no other option.
Writing a story about division of power now and how Trump’s power could be checked by House, Senate, Supreme Court. A big part of the problem is that George W. Bush and Obama dramatically expanded the use of presidential authority: launching wars without Congressional approval, assassinating Americans with drones, etc. So there will be some checks but he’s going to be able to do a ton unilaterally.
God I wonder if Trump even knows how many people are in the house, how divisions of power works.
“Our House majority is bigger than expected… and much of that is thanks to Donald Trump,” Ryan says, extending an olive branch he sorely needs.
“He turned politics on its head and, now, Donald Trump will lead a united Republican government,” Paul Ryan says, getting out there before Clinton’s concession. We have to wonder if he will hold his job as Speaker of the House given the antipathy between him and Trump throughout the campaign.
“Just kinda hit me: we think this is weird from north of the border, but what about to the south? How do relations with Mexico proceed after this campaign?”
As Trump builds his wall on his side, Mexicans may be digging a moat on their side.
Well said Michael
Adding my two cents to the growing pile of “what Clinton and the Democrats did wrong” analysis: I’m not sure she did anything that was so wrong. She’s not a great speaker or a natural politician. She never was. But neither is Trump a great speaker – to understate it wildly. Trump caught a wave. He tapped into a vein of fury and discontent about the decline of the rust belt, which has been under way for years and which Obama did too little to address. I’ve been driving through the northeastern U.S. for years – in many places, particularly rural areas, it’s poor and grim. So these people grow up being told they’re the luckiest people on earth, citizens of the world’s only superpower, but they’re working crap part-time jobs, unlike their parents who worked in a steel mill or factory for a decent wage. Trump is a middle finger, extended towards Washington D.C. I’m sure there’s more to it than that. But I think this is a big part of it.
Just kinda hit me: we think this is weird from north of the border, but what about to the south? How do relations with Mexico proceed after this campaign?
A Mexican newspaper with its front page referring to the eventual triumph of US presidential candidate Donald Trump on November 9, 2016 in Mexico City. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images)
Guess I would have had time to buy more coffee
Clinton is on her way:
COMING UP: Clinton is on way to address supporters after defeat to Donald Trump. WATCH: https://t.co/tSj97Emk48 https://t.co/MOgrf5dPAa
— Reuters Live (@ReutersLive) November 9, 2016
(And as much as the idea is appealing, Michelle running in 2020 is not a great idea. Dynastic politics were also rejected… then again, she does stir people, as would maybe a Kennedy?)
Going dynastic would be a mistake. The Democrats need to listen to their voters who say: they don’t think the economy is working for them, they don’t approve of the job government is doing, they don’t think they’re better off than they used to be. Practically that means changing policy. There’s a big sort of libertarian sort of left-wing push from Silicon Valley to change politics. There’s a much bigger one from the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrats. If they’re going to win in 2020 they need to build back a coalition that trusts them (like people in the Rust Belt did for the past twenty years but went for Trump last night).
How does the Democratic party respond?
They do anything but fall to Trump’s lowest common denominator. Even now, as Michelle Obama says, “When they go low, we go high.” They can’t fight hate with hate or fancy-sounding Washington-style policies. They need to reconnect with Americans on a visceral level, find that good and tease it out. I don’t know how they find another candidate like Barack Obama who stirs hope in the people, but that’s what they need. (And as much as the idea is appealing, Michelle running in 2020 is not a great idea. Dynastic politics were also rejected… then again, she does stir people, as would maybe a Kennedy?)
I can’t stop wondering if the Democrats arrogance in the final days (weeks?) of the campaign sunk them. If they’d run harder, stressed Trump was a real threat, would turnout have been higher? This is the lowest turnout since 2000. So lots of people stayed home. Could Hillary Clinton have motivated them to turn out if they hadn’t been so over-confidant?
I was thinking about this a lot last night. A huge part of it has to do with the complete lack of trust and respect people have for the media and other elite institutions. Only six newspapers endorsed Donald Trump. We have Trump on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women, he is facing a lawsuit for defrauding students at his university. There is ample evidence that he is a threat and basically everyone I know who works in media or government would characterize him as such. People got that message, they just don’t trust or respect the people delivering it.
Ashley makes a great point:
People, especially white middle class people, felt disenfranchised. Trump tapped into that and at the same time he tapped into a subconscious (or conscious in some) bigotry, a discomfort with the shifting power dynamics in the West. This is a hard check against that, against the institutions that have facilitated those changes and against the political establishment itself.
Bearing that in mind: How does the Democratic party respond? They could go back to FDR-style policies focusing on expansion of the social safety net, massive spending on public programs. That worked for them for several decades. But the trend within the party is to smaller government largely supportive of Wall Street and in love with Silicon Valley’s technocratic solutions. Hard to see how the current guard (including those Democrats in the Senate and the House) are going to change the course, even after it’s been so disastrous for them.
I can’t stop wondering if the Democrats arrogance in the final days (weeks?) of the campaign sunk them. If they’d run harder, stressed Trump was a real threat, would turnout have been higher? This is the lowest turnout since 2000. So lots of people stayed home. Could Hillary Clinton have motivated them to turn out if they hadn’t been so over-confidant?
There are several competing narratives emerging this morning: whether this was about disenfranchisement, anti-women sentiments, racism, if Bernie Sanders could have won. But I think they all converge in some way.
People, especially white middle class people, felt disenfranchised. Trump tapped into that and at the same time he tapped into a subconscious (or conscious in some) bigotry, a discomfort with the shifting power dynamics in the West. This is a hard check against that, against the institutions that have facilitated those changes and against the political establishment itself.
Hillary Clinton didn’t shatter the highest glass ceiling last night but other American women broke significant records:
Kate Brown is now the first openly bisexual person to be elected governor after winning Oregon
In Minneapolis, Ilhan Omar became the first Somali American to win a seat in a state legislature in the US
Catherine Cortez Mastro became the first Latina to win a Senate seat with her win in Nevada
Kamala Harris is now the first Indian American woman to win a Senate seat after claiming California
CNN just said they are still setting up risers for Clinton’s speech so it’s gonna be more than 10 minutes I think.
Now being told the speech has been delayed to 11 or 11:15.
This will almost certainly bump Ryan’s speech back (originally scheduled for 11:15) until after Clinton has finished and may move Obama’s (12:00 pm) too.
Those searching for answers as to why the polls got it so spectacularly wrong last night should listen to one pollster who predicted a Trump victory back in August. Mona Chalabi is data editor at the Guardian. Here she is arguing that the poorer the voter the less likely they were to tell a stranger how they would vote. In other words: poorer people are more likely to either not answer honestly or not answer at all when a pollster calls.
Watch the awesome @monachalabi perfectly predict the US election result, and why the pollsters will get it wrong – THREE MONTHS AGO pic.twitter.com/bC8Jxh86or
— Richard Osman (@richardosman) November 9, 2016
Now being told the speech has been delayed to 11 or 11:15.
Clinton lost the presidency twice before, in a way: once during the 2008 primary when she lost to Obama and once as a high school student. She lost to a less qualified, male athlete. It affected her deeply at the time and would later fuel her burgeoning feminism.
After Clinton’s speech Paul Ryan is scheduled to talk at 11:15 pm and Barack Obama will speak at 12:00 pm.
In 1969 Clinton gave an eloquent and hopeful speech as the valedictorian of Wellesley College. In June 2016 Wellesley released audio excerpts from her speech. She talks about the importance of “constructive protest” and says: “The challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible”:
Oppressed, silenced and defeated: Women have no reason to cheer, Kate Heartfield wrote after Hillary Clinton lost
We just lived through the first presidential election in which a woman was on the ballot for a major party, and women have no reason to cheer. The moment was robbed of its joy, not because the first women to so feature did not win, but because of how she lost and to whom.
The months leading up to Nov. 8 were a reminder not only of the shameless sexism that stood ready to confront the first female presidential candidate, but also of the shocking racism that still informs so much of the rhetoric against the country’s first black president. It felt like sowing seeds in arid soil, as much as it felt like reaping the rewards of the work of previous generations.
Read more …
A Clinton supporter reacts to elections results at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York on Tuesday night. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)
While we wait, here’s Hillary Clinton’s speech from the 2008 Democratic Convention after being defeated by Barack Obama:
The United State’s Africa Command announced they bombed Libya on Thursday. Obama is currently bombing seven predominantly Muslim countries and has troops on the ground in Iraq. Trump is in charge of that come January.
I’m just gonna leave this here
Today is the anniversary of Kristallnacht… And thus also the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/BTASSHGJuk
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) November 9, 2016
Clinton did concede, however. Just privately, on the phone to Trump.
Here’s what her campaign chair had to say last night when he tried to hold out hope, told everyone to go bed and said Clinton wouldn’t speak until today.
And we’re back. It’s only been a few hours since we found out Donald Trump won the presidency, but we’re still waiting to hear from Hillary Rodham Clinton. She’s expected to speak in about 20 minutes.
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