‘I had the feeling’: Bill Clinton says he’s not ‘surprised’ by 2024 election results

Former President Bill Clinton’s reaction to the 2024 election made him the latest high-profile Democrat to lead people to believe: “He voted for Trump, didn’t he?”

(Video Credit: MSNBC)

Ahead of Election Day, Clinton dutifully hit the campaign trail to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris as he had for President Joe Biden. While the benefit of some of his remarks were questionable, an interview on MSNBC’s “The Saturday Show,” included the president confessing that President-elect Donald Trump’s victory was expected, “I can’t say I was surprised.”

Host Jonathan Capehart kicked off the interview with an excerpt from Clinton’s recently released book, “Citizen: My Life After the White House,” that read, “By the time you read Citizen, we’ll know who won. I hope enough people will have chosen the benefits of inclusive economic and social policies and of preserving democracy against abusive power, to turn the tide.”

“Donald Trump is now president-elect,” said Capehart. “Is his election a rejection of the benefits of inclusive economic and social policies? A rejection of preserving democracy, do you think?”

Acceding to the premise, Clinton found agreement as he reacted, “Oh, by some, but only a small percentage. I think, maybe more than half, but not much more than half of his voters.”

He then critiqued the failure of the Democratic Party to rally more voters to their perspective as he expressed, “But we didn’t have enough supporters who thought inclusive societies, inclusive capitalism, inclusive governments was more important than divisive governments or more important than other things they cared about to prevail. So we have to just keep fighting.”

“I can’t say I was surprised,” the president went on regarding the outcome of the election. “I had the feeling all along that at the end this thing might break one way or the other, and all the so-called swing states would vote together because the last 2- or 3-, 4% were actually pretty much alike throughout the country.”

Prior to Election Day, Clinton’s stumping for the vice president included a less than helpful commentary on the border crisis, opting for truth instead of the narrative as he indicated that the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley “probably wouldn’t have happened” if the Biden-Harris administration had “properly vetted” foreign nationals flooding into the country.

Much like First Lady Jill Biden opting for red attire when she went to cast her ballot and the broadly-smiling Joe Biden offering a “Welcome Back” to Trump during his post-election visit to the Oval Office, as well as Harris’ own absence from a farewell dinner for the incumbent, Clinton’s pre- and post-election commentary smacked of sabotage to some on social media who couldn’t help but think helping hands for the campaign had been less than earnest.

Kevin Haggerty

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