As Hillary Clinton's "What Happened" novel hits the shelves today - at a 40% discount - it appears President Trump just took a subtle shot at the former first lady's view of the world...
Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2017
It's hard to disagree with President Trump's vie of Hillary's book (if that is who he is indirectly discussing) as the level of cognitive dissonance within seems monumental. The Hill offers five of the most memorable anecdotes shared by Clinton in her book.
Obama urged Clinton to run
President Obama signaled to Clinton early on in 2013 and 2014 that she should run for president. “He made it clear that he believed that I was our party’s best chance to hold the White House and keep our progress going, and he wanted me to move quickly to prepare to run,” Clinton wrote. She wrote that Obama’s support meant a ton to her. “I knew President Obama thought the world of his Vice President, Joe Biden, and was close to some other potential candidates, so his vote of confidence meant a great deal to me.”
Clinton sought guidance from Bush on inauguration
As she decided whether to show up for President Trump’s inauguration, Clinton sought advice from a surprising source: former President George W. Bush. Bush had his own family disagreements with Trump, who had ridiculed his brother Jeb Bush during the GOP primaries. But he advised Clinton to go to the inauguration, arguing it was for the good of the country. “That gave me the push I needed,” Clinton wrote. “Bill and I would go.” Bush was also the first to call Clinton after she delivered her concession speech and waited on the line while she hugged and thanked her supporters. When Clinton finally came to the phone, the former president “suggested we find time to get burgers together. I think that’s Texan for ‘I feel your pain,’ ” Clinton wrote.
Clinton thought Chaffetz was Priebus
You’d think Hillary Clinton would know what former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) looks like. The Utah congressman had long sought to make a political issue of Clinton’s handling of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans. Yet Clinton wrote that she mistook Chaffetz for Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus when he approached her on Inauguration Day. Chaffetz captured the moment on Twitter, posting a photo of the two that said: “So pleased she is not the President. I thanked her for her service and wished her luck. The investigation continues.” Clinton said she didn’t know who Chaffetz was and thought he was Priebus. After the Chaffetz tweet, she admitted that she “came this close” to tweeting back at the congressman: “To be honest, I thought you were Reince.” That wasn’t the only awkward encounter with a critical Republican. During the lunch at the Capitol following the swearing-in ceremony, Clinton also described a scene where Trump’s soon-to-be Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, introduced Clinton to his wife. Clinton wrote that she was surprised that Zinke would want her to meet his better half, “considering in 2014 he had called me the ‘antichrist.’ ” “You know Congressman, I’m not actually the anticrist,” she said she told Zinke. He was “taken aback,” Clinton wrote, and “mumbled something about not having meant it.”
Loyalty pays off
After then-FBI Director James Comey said they had reopened an investigation to examine emails found on former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-N.Y.) laptop, Clinton wrote that some people thought she should fire longtime adviser Huma Abedin, Weiner’s wife. “Not a chance,” wrote Clinton. “She had done nothing wrong and was an invaluable member of my team. I stuck by her the same way she has always stuck by me.”
In the end, it’s Bill and Hill
In the wee hours of the morning on election night, after everyone left the Clinton suite, the former secretary of State wrote that she and her husband were alone. “I hadn’t cried yet, wasn’t sure if I would. But I felt deeply and thoroughly exhausted, like I hadn’t slept in ten years,” Clinton wrote. “We lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Bill took my hand and we just lay there.”
Finally, for those who are interested in what Hillary has to say in "What Happened" but just don't have time to read a book right now, we found this summary to be a fairly accurate portrayal:
Politico notes that Trump's tweet also coincided with the release of NBC political reporter Katy Tur’s “Unbelievable: My Front Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History.” Trump has sparred in particular in the past with Tur, whom he has characterized as a “third-rate journalist” and singled her out by name at rallies, sparking the ire of attendees. The president has also referred diminutively to Tur as “little Katy” and at a July, 2016 press conference, told her to “be quiet” as she sought to ask a follow up question about his invitation to the Russian government to find emails deleted from the personal email server Clinton maintained as secretary of state.