Hi everyone, I'm Kitty Kirk, and this is next question.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Katie Kirk, Award winning journalist and co founder of Katie Kirk Media.
Hi.
Everyone. Wow, what a crowd. It is so great, such an honor to be kicking off your book tour. Hillary, may I call you Hillary? Yes, Katie yes, And so great to be in my hometown of Washington, DC. So gosh, I have nineteen pages worth of questions. Don't worry, the print is very big, Hillary, and I'll put my glasses on in fact. So let's get to it right away. There's so much news to talk about. Obviously we're going to talk about your wonderful book, Something Lost, Something Gained.
But first I want to address sort of recent news events. The assassination attempt on former President Trump yesterday at his golf course in West Palm Beach. It is the second attempt on his life in two months. When you heard the news, what was your reaction.
Well, it was horror. I mean, this is such a terrible thing to happen twice in our country in a relatively short period of time, and it's frightening to see violence being threatened and used in a political campaign.
This is what Donald Trump tweeted this afternoon. Quote. The rhetoric lies, as exemplified by the far statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC debate and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe's than Kamala's political opponent, me has taken politics in our country to a whole new level of hatred, abuse, and distrust because of this communist left rhetoric. The bullets are flying and it will only get worse.
Exclamation point. Allowing millions of people from places unknown to invade and take over our country is an unpardonable sin end quote. I imagine you have a lot to say about that.
Well, you know, it is so regrettable that the former president would take what is a genuinely terrible event of someone stalking a former president and current candidate and turn it into as he did with that tweet that you just read, a political attack on his opposition and literally everybody else who does not support him. And it really does Katie come down once again to everything everything that he talks about is about himself, and he doesn't in
any way try to reach out to people. He's not interested in representing all of America and all of Americans, and this is just another really regrettable incident of that. And I do worry about political violence. I worry about threats. I worry about what's being said online about many many people, not just the former president. And he should be doing if if you were really a leader, he should be doing what he can to calm the waters, not try to just continue to throw red meat out there to
get people riled up. And it is troubling to me, which is something that I think everybody should.
Worry about modeling behavior instead of inciting more violent speech. While we're talking about that in a sense deleted response to a user who asked, why do they want to kill Donald Trump, Elon Musk said, and no one is even trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala.
You know, let's just all just promise ourselves that we can have significant political differences about who we want to be our next president, about the policies that we think will help our country and the world, and condemn that kind of rhetoric. It has absolutely no place in American life.
It's interesting because in the prologue of your books, something Lost, Something Gained is out tomorrow. By the way, everyone you write quote when you start viewing the other party as traders, criminals, or otherwise illegitimate. For example, if you spread the lie for years that our first black president wasn't actually born in the United States. Where if you lead locker up chants at your campaign rallies, politics becomes a blood sport.
Soon enough, actual blood gets spilled. I'm curious who do you think. I mean, you're going to say this is kind of a no brainer question, but who do you think is responsible for raising the temperature of our political rhetoric? Is it solely one side? Because I noticed Hillary when I was reading the book, you mentioned both far right and far left echo chambers.
You know, I do think that we've always had strong feelings in our politics, going back literally to the very beginning of this country. There's nothing new about that. But I do think that social media has put it on steroids, and what we see now are opinions being expressed, hate being conveyed that would have just stayed within a much smaller geographic or community setting, which is now literally around
the world. So I believe that this is not just about political leaders, although they do, and I believe this strongly, have a responsibility to try to model responsible leadership. But it is about all kinds of people who have found homes on the Internet to convey a lot of hatred, a lot of vitriolic rhetoric, attacking all sorts of people, from the right, from the left, impugning people's beliefs, denying reality,
putting forth conspiracy theories. And so it is difficult in the environment in which we find ourselves to really have a civil conversation about the differences. And there are real differences. There are differences between the parties, There are differences between candidates because saying anything just gets totally viral immediately and
then you know you're off on a tangent. So I do think that political leaders, some journalists, activists, you know, online personality, all of that has contributed to a really volatile political situation.
Well, as our friend Kara Swisher calls it, engagement through enragement, and those are the things that get attention, the most vitriolic, most sort of incendiary comments. I want to ask you about the current political situation with Joe Biden stepping down from running for president. The book was turned in prior to that, and also prior to Donald Trump's first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. I know you recorded an epilogue though for your audio book, And let me first ask
you about President Biden resigning from the campaign. What do you think took him so long to make that decision.
Well, I don't have any inside information, but I think number one, he did a really good job as president. He got a lot done, and and and I do think he modeled responsible leadership. Uh. He tried very hard to you know, demonstrate that he wanted to be president for all Americans. He wanted to work with Republicans in
the Congress. A lot of his major legislation, many of the benefits like the Infrastructure Bill or the Inflation Reduction Act, you know, they're going to go to all Americans, and they're going to go to places that don't vote for Democrats, did not vote for Joe Biden. And and he really did have a strong commitment to try to you know, reach out to people and to to build a much you know, commer approach toward bringing people together to solve problems.
So if you've had that kind of record and you've done a lot as he did, I think that U those of us who were around him, you know both. I was around him numerous times. Actually did a you know, fundraiser with him with my husband right here in Virginia at Terry mccauliff's house, who I think is here tonight about like like about a week before that debate. And you know, not only did he speak, he was in a photo line for an hour, then he went around
and talked to everybody who was at the fundraiser. So when we saw the debate, like every other American, we were, you know, surprised, shocked even, And I think again, I'm thinking that this is how he felt about it. He said, Okay, I had a terrible debate. Don't know what happened to me, but I'm gonna go out and I'm going to campaign and all the rest of it. But it just couldn't
be recovered. And I think then people close to him, that our trusted advisors, you know, began explaining to him that it couldn't be recovered, that he couldn't get back to a fifty to fifty close race that you know, he would be able to pull out, and he made the right decision. And then immediately after he made the decision public, he endorsed Kamala, which was also the right decision.
Let me ask you about that, because I know you had a conversation with Kamala Harris that Sunday. What can you tell us about that.
Well, you're right that my book had to get to the printer before all of this happened. You must have been like, damn, gosh, it was it was pretty it was pretty agonizing. But I did. If you're an audible kind of person, I did record the book, and I put an epilogue at the end of the book, or at the end of the recording. It's not in the book, but it is in the audio version in which I
talked about how I felt. I mean, first of all, I thought Joe Biden made a patriotic decision and it was commendable, and I was, you know, very grateful to him, and I thought his endorsement of Kamala was the right thing. And I you know that afternoon, Bill and I talked to the President, we talked to the Vice president, and I say in the epilogue, you know, I wasn't sure how I would feel when another woman would be so close to breaking that hardest glass ceiling. And I was
thrilled and so excited. And you know, she has run a near perfect campaign. I mean absolutely from the very beginning. So I was, you know, able to express that in
the audio version that I recorded. But I think the book itself tries to talk about the stakes that are in the election, whether it's Joe Biden at the top of the ticket or Kamala Harris, the stakes are so high and they remain the same, and so I'm thrilled that people have been so energized by Kamala because we've got to turn everybody out to vote in November.
I know, during the course of that phone call, she said to you, we're going to need your help, and you said.
Whatever you need, whatever you need, and I you know, I've talked to her several times. I thought her convention speech was perfect. It was such an incredible introduction of herself to the country. I also talked with her about the debate, which I thought was terrific, And you know, it is very for me. It's very exciting to see someone literally just get thrown into the deep end of the pool, like, oh, now you're running for president and to see her just kick herself up and you know,
get prepared to do it. And I love her vice presidential candidate Tim Walls, who is such a breath of fresh air. So I you know, I'm doing events. I'm helping in every way that I can, because literally we have fifty days left and there's so much at stake that I personally am going to do everything that I can to make sure this election turns out right.
If you want to get smarter every morning with a breakdown of the new and fascinating takes on health and wellness and pop culture, sign up for our daily newsletter, Wake Up Call by going to Katiecuric dot com. You know, at the time when there was so much discussion about whether President Biden was going to drop out of the race, many Democrats were hoping for an open process where a number of candidates could have competed for the spot. But you, as you said just a minute ago, you were a
big supporter of Kamala Harris's from the get go. Why did you think that was the best path and what downside did you see in having a more open process.
First of all. I thought she'd earned it. She has been the vice president. When people were voting in the primaries, they voting for the Biden Harris ticket, not the Biden question Mark ticket, and I thought that she was best positioned to step on to the national stage. I talked to a lot of people during that time, and nobody could describe to me what this process was supposed to be.
I mean, I would have been interested. You know. There were all kinds of wacky ideas, well, let's just have people go around the country like you know.
Do town halls.
Yeah, in town halls, like the Lincoln Douglas debates, I mean, and you have what a month? I mean, none of it made any sense. And the sensible people whose names you know were well known because they were already established in politics, and the Congress, governors, et cetera. They were all looking at it and going, this doesn't sound like
a good idea to me. And then finally we were We were running against the most dangerous threat to the continuation of American democracy and freedom that we can possibly imagine. And we don't need any more chaos. We need to make a decision and go forward. And if you go back and look at the history of you know, contested conventions, people running against incumbents, it doesn't turn out all that well.
So I was I was thrilled that, you know, we were able to make a very you know, sensible, smart decision and get to the convention, uh, have a great convention and come out of it with a lot of uh you know, uh steam behind our candidates.
We'll talk more about politics in a moment, but I want to talk about the book, which is quite political by the way, political and personal. I know you're a huge Joni Mitchell fan. As am I You named Chelsea. I remember this from I think I interviewed I think it was mentioned you in nineteen ninety three, the first interview with the First Lady. It was Hilary America's first Lady, and it was so gendered and cheesy. But that was in nineteen ninety three. But anyway, I know that you
named Chelsea after Chelsea Morning. And in your prologue you talk about being at rapped attention, as Joni Mitchell sang both sides now at the Grammys earlier this year, which was quite a moment. It seems to me this book is you at a very reflective time in your life. Tell us a little bit more about where you are and how you're looking at life from both sides.
Now, well, how many you know this may be a little generational, but how many of you know the Joni Mitchell song or the Judy Collins cover both sides? Now?
I hope everybody does. I even the young en should know this song.
Well, if you haven't heard it, please please listen to it. Do yourselfs a favor.
You know this is like God, you're making me feel so old.
You haven't heard both sides? Now, go to Spotify. But it's like the soundtrack of my life. I mean really, and it would you when I first heard that song in my I guess early twenties. You know, I've looked at life from both sides now, from win or lose, and still somehow I don't know what life means basically when you're in your twenties, as I write in the book, yeah, I mean what does it mean? What does life mean? What does life hold for me? And then of course
love the same thing. And I have used that song and the lyrics from it literally through the course of my life because at different stages in your life, you know, you do have something lost, something gain, which comes from the song you do see life on both sides. You often see love from both sides. And I just felt when I was watching Joni Mitchell sitting in what looked like a throne at the Grammys earlier this year.
Holding what looked like a specter r.
What looked like a spector with Brandy Carlisle, one of my all time new favorites. I was just so touched because, you know, she survived a brain aneurysm and a lot of other things in her life, and here she was, you know, doing what she does so uniquely, which is to you know, write songs that capture your feelings not just at one time in your life, but as you
go through life. So, you know, Katie, when I saw that, I thought, Okay, you know, I am thinking a lot about where I am in my life now, and you know I want to you know, reflect on that. So it was a real chance for me to take some time and look at life, look at love, talk about my family, my friends, my you know, political and public activities. In a way that was kind of you know, taking stock of where I am right now.
And what was important, you know, and sort of letting go of things that mattered so much at one point, but you realize now don't matter at all. In fact, absolutely, you write in the book, the old words took on new meaning. Gone was the twenty something shaking off the rose colored glasses of a love affair and the illusions of adolescence, and in her place was a matriarch reflecting on the hard earned wisdom of a long, eventful life.
Is part of this coming to terms for you, Hillary, the fact, as you write you have more yesterday's than tomorrow's.
I think it is. I mean, I feel great. I'm going to stay as active and involved as I can until when I can't. But you do have that sense. I mean, I have three grandchildren now, and you know, life for me is really about how I can make the future safer, more inviting, you know, richer in meaning an opportunity for my grandchildren, for children. I dedicate the book to my grandchildren and their generation because I want them to have the kind of future that they deserve.
And so I do think a lot about tomorrow. Even though my tomorrows are fewer than my yesterday's. I think about, Okay, what are we going to do? Every single day? To try to make the world more peaceful, to try to end conflicts, to try to end the divisions in our country. What can we do and what role, you know, can I play in trying to get that done?
The book opens the book. If you all clap after every answer, I'm going to run out of time. The book opens on the afternoon of May thirtieth time, twenty twenty four, when you and all of America got the news that former President Donald Trump had been convicted of thirty four felonies related to election fraud in twenty sixty in twenty sixteen. So can you set the scene for us, Hillary, Where were you described that moment at all, the intense feelings that stirred up in you.
Well, it was, as you said, late May, and I was finishing edits on the book, and I was actually here in Washington at my house here, and I was working on the edits, and I needed to really concentrate because I had a limited period of time to get these edits done. And then I had events that I had to go to, and so I took my phone and you know, I put it on mute and I turned it upside down. So I had no idea what
was going on in the world. And I was, you know, finally finishing the parts that I was trying to edit, and you know, I picked it up, see what's going on and turned it on and like my phone is blowing up. I mean, honest to goodness, people I hadn't heard from in years are you know, texting and emailing me, and they are all saying the same thing. Can you
believe what just happened? And of course I quickly read that he had been convicted of thirty four felony accounts for interfering in the twenty sixteen election, because that's what that trial was about. Hush money was a means to prevent information from being made public that might have affected
the vote. So it was election interference. And you know, when you've watched his life and when you've tried to explain how he's never been held accountable for the bankruptcies in business and for so much else that happened before he ever went into politics, you know, to see that a jury of his peers in the place he grew up in New York had found him guilty was you know,
very reassuring to me about our system. And I did get you know, a little bit teary eyed because I thought, Wow, no one is above the law, no matter what the United States Supreme Court says, no one is above the law.
And and so for me, I mean, you know, look, I mean, I you know, I was accused of a million things.
I'll probably come up with more tomorrow. I mean, it just never ends. And you know, went through, you know, all the process, and thankfully, guess what, I'd never had done anything that amounted to any kind of uh, you know, case that could be made because there was nothing there. And so for me to see that finally he was being held account was very reassuring it. And you know, obviously people started sending me memes and you know.
A lot of Hillary laughing memes, right, a lot of very funny memes.
Yeah.
But you know, I know that you confess to feeling a soup song of schadenfreud. Yes, but you also felt relief as you just said that he would be held accountable. But will he be because as you know, Judge Mrchon recently delayed his sentencing to after the election. You mentioned the Supreme Court saying granting him immunity. Does it feel like he'll never truly be held accountable at times to you.
Well, I think that's a risk. I do think it depends upon the outcome of the election. Part of the reason why he is so intense about this election is because his free him is at stake. And you know, the the case in New York, Uh, the uh losing the defamation case, also in New York, his company being held criminally liable also in New York.
Uh.
There's a pattern here that finally people are focused on that he's a person who you know, cuts corners all the time, believes he's above the law, gets to you know, try to point fingers at everybody else. So honestly, Katie, it depends upon the election. And it is so shocking to me. How you know the judge in Florida has literally turned herself into a pretzel trying to find a way out for him with his boxes and boxes of highly classified material stored in mar.
A Lago in the back the bathroom, I mean, which was really gross.
You can't make this up. Yeah, I mean really, I guess we know what he's reading or not. I don't know what you're dealing with it. Yeah, look, I mean, we have always prided ourselves on a couple of things, the peaceful transfer of power. And as Secretary of State, I used to travel around the world basically telling leaders and you know, the people and countries, look, one election is not enough. It's not one and you're done, and then you get to, you know, try to prevent anybody
else from ever challenging you. It's a peaceful transfer of power. You have to have, you know, free and fair elections, the rule of law, not the rule of men powerful men, but the rule of law. And so you know, he he has very much, along with his allies, you know, tried to destroy both of those foundational concepts of our country. And it is incredibly dangerous. As don't take it from me. All of the people who worked for him who are
now saying, please don't vote for him. I was in the situation room with him, I was in the oval office with him. I briefed him, you cannot trust him and you cannot let him have that kind of power again. So the people who serve with him are warning us, and he himself has said he wants to be, you know, dictator on day one.
Why isn't the campaign employing those people more?
Well, they have been used and they've certainly been mentioned, and they're all over social media. And just like two days ago, a big group of former Reagan officials all came out against him. I mean, Republicans of you know, principle and prior experience in different Republican administrations are you know, literally sounding the alarm. So I think that the more we can get that out, the better, and I'm hoping
the campaign will do more of that. But as Vice President Harris travels around the country, she's now being introduced in a lot of places by Republicans who basically say, you know, I am so and so, and I'm a lifelong Republican, but I am voting for you know, Vice President Harris. That is giving permission to people who are torn about Trump but still feel like, well, you know, I'm a Republican. I don't agree with the Democrats on issues and all the rest. The only issue is saving
our democracy. We can argue about everything else later, you know.
The New York Times recently described Donald Trump as a unique and durable political force, and I'm curious to get your insights about why why is he so durable?
Well, first of all, I think it helps to have some sense of history and to know that in many societies political systems, people who have an ability to connect with you know, the fears and the insecurities and the anger and the hatreds of people in their society are very effective demagogues, you know, people who stand up and rail against the other, whoever the other is, whether it's you know, immigrants or minority groups, whoever it is. And I think what he has done, uh is to open
the door to that in our country. You know, I didn't agree with a lot of the Republican presidents that I've followed in my lifetime. I found ways to work with some of them. When I was you know, a senator from New York on nine to eleven, I found a way to work with President George W. Bush about you know, rebuilding New York and even though I disagreed with him about you know, other things. But what we've got with you know, former President Trump is not a
political difference. It's a it's an almost a psychological character difference that goes beyond party. He has subdued the Republican Party to basically give in to him and follow him, and he does, you know, he does have that quality that demagogues throughout history have to connect with people on a really visceral level. So when you say why is he so durable, I think because he keeps people agitated, he keeps people angry, he keeps people upset. He's never
trying to calm the waters. He's never trying to bring people together. One of my favorite examples of this is, you know, after the twenty sixteen election, which was you know, a terrible you know, blow in every way. So you know, I gave my concession speech and basically said, we've we've got to get you know, we have one president at a time, got to get behind him, et cetera. And I really hoped that what I saw in the campaign would be replaced by a greater sense of responsibility. So
fast forward the inauguration. So, you know, I do believe in the peaceful transfer of power. And you know, Bill and I went to the inauguration and we went as you know, former president, former first lady. We were seated with former presidents and first ladies. So I was literally sitting next to George W.
Bush and didn't he say something really funny too?
Well, I was going to tell you, yes, sorry, because you know, this was my first recognition that the speech, which you know, when when you when you have had a close election, when you've lost the popular vote. I mean, it would be a good idea to stand up in front of the world and say I'm going to be the president for everybody, you know. I mean, that's what we kind of hope you'll do. Instead, it was like carnage in the streets. It was so dark and dystopian
and mean spirited. And you heard this and I thought, wow, what is going on? So the speech ends and or w Bush turns to me and goes, that was some weird shit. So w right, but apparently there are people who like it. I don't know what to say, but I mean that kind of goes to your question, why is he so durable when he's scaring people and he's
angering people, and he's making hateful comments. Clearly he is tapping into something in many Americans in their own minds and hearts, and that's what we have to do a better job of understanding.
You reveal in the book that you were attempted to run for president again during the disastrous Trump presidency, at one point thinking the third time maybe a charm. So why did you ultimately decide against it, you.
Know, for a number of reasons. I mean one, I really did think in twenty twenty that he had to be beaten and Joe Biden could do that. And I felt that from you know, the beginning of the primary season, because of the durability that you recognized, and I didn't, you know, I didn't want it to be personal me against him. I wanted to be about his record as as president, the four years that he presided over. And I thought that that would be very difficult if I
were the candidate. And if you look at that race, and this is for all the political junkies, and I know there are some of you out there, you will remember that the electoral college makes it very difficult to win four Democrats. And when I won by nearly three million votes in the popular vote, I lost. Can wait a minute, no, I know, I know, but yeah, you know, I lost by like seventy seven thousand votes, right, So
just think about that. If you know, forty nine fifty thousand votes had gone differently in three states, the outcome would have been different. So fast forward twenty twenty to go to Katie's question. Trump got a lot more votes. I mean, people looked at what he did and failed to do during COVID at everything else that happened during those four years, and said, hey, we like that. Biden got more votes than anybody's ever gotten for president and won the popular vote by you know, more than seven
and a half million. But here's what I want you to understand, why I want you to work really, really really hard for the next fifty days. He only won the electoral College by one hundred thousand votes, So just think about that fifty one thousand votes the other way,
even though he won an overwhelming popular victory. So we are living in a divided country and we can't understand and the other side can't understand, you know, why we feel so strongly about what we want to see in our government and in our you know, society, and they are feeling exactly the same way about us. And so the only thing to do, and it's it's labor intensive, which is why you're seeing the vice president and Governor Waltz literally criss crossing the same states over and over again.
I mean, one additional bad thing about the electoral college is you don't campaign to the whole country. You campaigned to six, seven, eight states, And that's where the ads run, that's where the candidates travel, that's where the organizers are deployed. So you will see over and over again those same states. And that's why we need all of you who care about the outcome of this election to do everything you can to help us win those states because they will be close.
It seems insane, but it's never going to change, is it.
The electoral college. You know, I came out against the electoral college in two thousand in the Gore Bush race because you know, it was our first indication that, you know, the Supreme Court wanted to brig our elections basically, which they did in the gor v. Bush decision, which is a terrible decision. We've had a lot of other terrible decisions since then. But I said, look this, if you want people to feel invested in their country's democracy, you
have to make them feel their vote counts. And if you're in an all red state or an all blue state and nobody campaigns to you during the presidential years, you know, it's hard for you to feel that you matter. And so I think it's an anachronism. It was one of the many comp reises that were made back in the you know Constitution and our founders did that. Honestly, you know, we should do away with it. I think the chances of that ever happening are absolutely zero, but
we should. We should at least keep making it an issue.
You know, in your aforementioned epilogue for your audio book, you Know, you talk about Vice President Harris being chronically underestimated during her time as VP, as so many women candidates and politicians are. But you also say maybe it was PTSD from decades of battling the sexism and double standards that plague women in politics. There's just something about her.
People say, we get tripped up by the likability test or the authenticity trap, or people don't like the sound of our laugh, the tone of our voice, the length of our hair, you name it. I hear you, sister. It's all gotten. It's all gotten worse in the age of social media, with anonymous mobs harassing any woman who has the temerity to stick her head up. So my question, Hillary is how concerned are you that both sexism and
racism will impact Kamala Harris's chances of winning? I mean, I remember there was a Sarah Palin Barbie Doll, but a Hillary Clinton nutcracker. Yeah. Remember I was so infuriated. It was at the airport.
I was like, what, Yeah, I know, I mean many people sent those to me. They were great stocking stuffers. Look, we're just among friends here and.
A few thousand francs.
Yeah. Of course there will be people who will not feel comfortable or want to vote for the vice president because she's black, maybe because she's the daughter of immigrants, and because she is a woman. That is just a fact. We have to live with that, we have to understand that. But that's you know, she is not putting that front and center in her campaign. She doesn't need to. She is talking about the issues, the kind of president she will be, how she has policies. You can go to
her website and literally see them all rolled out. But I think it's fair to say that it is still difficult to convince some people. And depending upon where you are in the country, the percentage will, you know, be greater or lesser that you know, you can be the president, you can be the commander in chief. And so she's
she and her campaign are fully aware of that. They're not dwelling on it, and they are inspiring a lot of people independence Republican women who care deeply about, you know, their reproductive freedom and whether they get to make decisions that are right for them and their families. And so I laid that out because I want to be honest about the challenges. They haven't gone away, but they've somewhat diminished, I think, at least I hope. So. So I think
she is running a terrific campaign. She has to stay on her message about you know, who she is, what she wants to do, and what a danger Trump poses. But let's not you know, let's not overlook the fact there will be some who just can't bring themselves to vote for a woman. And you know Shirley Chisholm, who was the first woman on the Democratic side to make
a serious run for the presidency. You know, she once famously said, you know, I'm black and I'm a woman, and it's been much harder being a woman, in part because it's kind of the you know, unfinished business of human history to ensure that women have equal rights and equal respect in whatever arena they find themselves. And so I think she she has to be aware of it,
but not dwell on it. And I think we all have to be very vigorous in our advocacy for the Harris Waltz campaign, both on the merits, because I think they'd be excellent for our country, and I just want
to breathe again, you know what. I think if we can, if we can you know, defeat Trump now in the upcoming election, then you know, people can take a deep breath, and the Republican Party may be able to find it's you know, conscience and its backbone and be able to reconstitute itself with people who I would disagree with on issues, but honestly would not fear for my country's future. And that's what we have to hope for.
Vice President Harris has been criticized for not being more specific in outlining her agenda. In a recent Time Santopol, twenty eight percent of likely voters said they felt they needed to know more about her, and even after the debate, many undecided voters told The New York Times that they still wanted more details about her plans and policies. Should be she'd be talking about her political agenda with more specificity. In your view, well.
That's assuming Donald Trump has put out a really specific But no, I mean that's a low bar, you know, I mean actually has with Project twenty twenty five, which should scare everybody here. You know, I have mixed feelings about this. I was accused of being uh specific, too specific a lot of other things, but certainly that, and I was also I put out a book about my policies, I gave speeches about my policies. At the end of the campaign, nobody knew anything about my policies. And I
just think it's a trap. I mean, first of all, for such a short campaign. I mean, if this were a year and a half campaign like they usually are, you would lay things out, you would you know, talk about them, you would have all kinds of events about them. I mean, she's got fifty days. So if you go to our website, she has a lot of really good policies and they are smart and they could be you know, transformational about housing, for example, the opportunity to economy, which
is what she's talking about. But when I hear people say that, it kind of makes me think, well, compared to.
What or is something else?
Is the.
Text there? And that's right, Katie, I mean is it like I just need to know more? Well, I think part of it is what they're really saying I just have to be more comfortable voting for a woman and voting for this woman. So she's done, I think, an absolutely credible job in putting policies out, and she talks about some of them, but it's more about how she makes people feel. And you know that Maya Angelou quote like you know when somebody shows you who they are,
believe them the first time. Well, she's showing that. She's a positive, energetic, optimistic person who wants to lift people up, not tear them down. And we need that so much in our country right now to have that kind of leadership.
I want to get back to you and your speech at the DNC. I was with a group female friends last week celebrating one of their birthdays, and they were marveling at how generous you were in your speech at the DNC, and one said, I thought this was such a lovely thing to say. It's as if Hillary took our broken hearts and allowed them to be released. Ah. Was it hard for you, Hillary, at any level to not have the pang of damn? It should have been me?
Well, I will tell you I was first asked to speak at the convention when Joe Biden was a candidate, and you know, obviously wanted to do my very best to support him if that was to be so. Then when everything changed and they asked me to speak at the convention, you know, they asked me to speak on the very first day, and I really felt like I had to be a bridge from where I was eight years ago. What I was trying to do what I
hoped could be done to the vice president. And it was a very very hard speech to write, and it was a hard speech to deliver. You know, I practiced it and would get, you know, pretty teary eyed about it because it was hard. But it was something that I felt really good and comfortable doing because I kind of knew what my assignment was and I knew that for a lot of people there was this twenty sixteen overhang.
I mean people today, I mean it's eight years people today come up and they see me and they burst into tears and they throw their arms around me and they're sobbing on my shoulder because of twenty six That must be a little weird. Well no, I mean it's very touching, but you know it, people know that it was an unprecedented election, and you know, those people who were,
you know, supporting me. You know, it has been a very long time, so I knew I had to both you know, give you know, give everybody permission to be one hundred percent behind Kamala, and so in delivering it, you know, going out there in the arena in Chicago, first of all, you know, I can't see too many faces beyond like the first couple of rows here because of the way that the theater here is lit. But at the convention, the way it was lit is I
could see people, twenty twenty five, thirty forty rows. I could recognize people, And it was such an intimate moment even though there were you know, many thousands of people there, and I felt like it truly was the passing of the torch. It was like, this can be done, we are going to do it. And in the speech, remember the main point I wanted to make it's not just about finally breaking through that glass ceiling. It's on what's
on the other side of the glass ceiling. What are the opportunities, what kind of future can we dream about together to really empower all of our people, especially our girls and young women. So it was a very emotional moment for me. And you know it was one of the most rewarding, you know, public experiences I've ever had.
Thanks for listening everyone. If you have a question for me, a subject you want us to cover, or you want to share your thoughts about how you navigate this crazy world reach out. You can leave a short message at six h nine five one two five five five, or you can send me a DM on Instagram. I would love to hear from you. Next Question is a production of iHeartMedia and Katie Couric Media. The executive producers are Me, Katie Kuric, and Courtney Ltz. Our supervising producer is Ryan Martz,
and our producers are Adriana Fazzio and Meredith Barnes. Julian Weller composed our theme music. For more information about today's episode, or to sign up for my newsletter, wake Up Call, go to the description in the podcast app, or visit us at Katiecuric dot com. You can also find me on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.