Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America
Part 3: Lessons from Hillary
Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag
The immediate aftermath of the 2016 election almost broke me. I was a mess watching Hillary’s concession speech. Not only was I upset over the outcome of the election but I was extremely distressed for her. How can she be so strong, I wondered (not for the first time). It seemed so unfair she had to console everyone else when she had to be dying inside. Watching it the second time via the docuseries wasn’t much better. Even though I now know what happened, it still hurts.
It wasn’t enough that the Republicans got what they wanted (by cheating, something you know they’re going to do again) but they had to try and humiliate her too. The third part of the docuseries was entitled, Be Our Champion, Go Away, and that’s exactly what it felt like back then. Pundits, politicians, the press, and people on social media demanded Hillary “take up knitting” or just drop out of the public eye. No other “defeated” politician has been treated in such a degrading way. Nope, that’s something they cooked up just for a woman.
I was furious and wrote several scathing emails to reporters and editors. It was all I could do.
