Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time Page #14

[Halperin] Here's an update

from Clinton aides.

She's still at the hotel,

watching results.

She was planning to wait

and then at some point

go over to the Javits Center

and give her victory speech.

[short sigh] I mean, you know,

she's in there now.

They're--I'm sure they're

telling her the bad news

and they're trying

to figure out a path.

They're claiming that

there's more vote out

at some of these places.

Can you imagine

if she has to give

a concession speech tonight,

what she's gonna say?

You know, she said America is

better than this and all that.

I mean, she's gonna have to say

this is what America wants.

Literally, there's never

been anything

that's happened like this.

I, um...

you know, often thunk of Trump

as like Berlusconi,

the prime minister of Italy.

You know, incredibly outrageous,

um, c-conduct and personality.

But with all due respect

to the Italians,

like, being prime minister

of Italy

is not the same as being

president of the United States.

[siren wailing]

I texted a Trump aide.

[indistinct shouting]

Said, "Where are you?"

Her response was,

"Alongside the next POTUS."

[man] That's right!

That's right!

[siren wailing]

[crowd chanting]

Drain the swamp!

Drain the swamp!

Drain the swamp!

Drain the swamp!

Drain the swamp!

Yeah, um,

I'm-I'm on 55th and 6th,

trying to get

towards the hotel.

They've got a credential for me.

They've got it inside.

[crowd commotion]

[man] Uh, "impatient,"

at this point

would be the operative

word of the night.

There has not been

a single person

who has left the Trump

victory night headquarters,

is what they think

it now is.

Uh, they're particularly

interested in

when Pennsylvania

might get called,

uh, because after...

somber music

[man] Two thousand twelve, uh,

Barack Obama won

quite "handedly."

This is steel country;

this is coal country.

And look at Donald Trump

winning...

[Heilemann]

We just got word that

Pennsylvania has been called

for Donald Trump.

By any rational calculation,

it's over for her.

[Cooper on TV]

...lot of different ways.

David Axelrod,

what did everybody get wrong?

I mean, the polls

were just wrong.

[Alesci on TV] I know.

I think the Comey letter

was extremely hurtful to her.

It's, uh--

it's frankly astounding...

[man on TV] Think of what

an incredibly

nontraditional campaign

this was.

It was Donald Trump

with a microphone, a hat,

and an airplane.

- Twitter account.

- And a Twitter account.

[woman on TV] And a lot

of media exposure.

man on TV] An extraordinary...

[woman on TV] And the media...

I'm gonna go on TV tomorrow

and have to say,

"Hey, man, I was wrong."

I got to figure out

why I was wrong.

We all got to figure it out.

This was the year of

bipartisan, ecumenical

populist rage.

And it was enough that

the figure of Donald Trump

was able to marshal

that populist outrage and...

issue a hostile takeover

of the Republican Party

on the back of widespread

outrage and anger

at Democrats, at Republicans,

at Washington, at Wall Street,

at Fortune 500,

at the mass media,

at every major establishment,

institution in the country.

People are f***ing pissed off.

And their attitude was,

"You know what?

That guy is risky,

but doing the same thing

over and over again

for another 20 years that

we did for the last 20 years

and didn't fix anything,

that's risky too.

And I'm willing

to take these risks

and just roll

a f***ing stick of dynamite

into Washington, D.C.,

and blow the motherf***er up

and see where the rubble falls."

[woman on TV] He gives

those voters hope.

They may not believe that

he can really change anything,

but he is their

hope and change candidate.

[King] Shouldn't he

be congratulated

or somebody just say what

he's done is extraordinary?

The fact that it started

with 17 candidates.

If you were a supporter

of Donald Trump

or he wasn't your candidate,

what he's accomplished

is extraordinary.

[Jones] People have

talked about a miracle.

Uh, I'm hearing

about a nightmare.

Uh, it's hard to be a parent

tonight for a lot of us.

Uh, you tell your kids,

don't be a bully.

You tell your kids,

don't be a bigot.

And then you have this outcome

and you have people

putting children to bed

tonight,

and they--

they're afraid of breakfast.

This was a rebellion

against the elites.

True, but it was

also something else.

We haven't talked about race.

This was a whitelash.

This was a whitelash

against a changing country.

It was a whitelash against

a black president, in part.

And that's the part

where the pain comes.

[siren wailing]

[indistinct chatter]

I have a right

to my own body.

Do you have a daughter?

Do you have a wife?

[man] The alt-right is here!

We are here to stay!

We are opposed

to neoconservatism.

- Yeah!

- We are opposed to globalism.

Yes.

We want nationalism

for all people.

Wow!

These are

the f***ing a**holes...

- White people have just...

- Exactly.

...as much of a right to exist.

- I'm a veteran!

- Yes, what do you--

- I'm 50% disabled!

- What do you identify as?

- You identify as American? Yes?

- Okay?

Of course I identify

as American!

And we shouldn't be

against each other by you

- telling me all this rhetoric.

- If--no--excuse me.

[crowd cheering]

minimal string music

I mean, is-it's-it's stunning.

And people are

gonna be stunned tomorrow

and the next day

and the next day

and for a good long time.

It's-it's, uh--

it was--it was hard to cover

'cause the country's

so bitterly divided.

It was hard to cover

because so much

of what happened was

against

the conventional wisdom.

Tonight and this election

will be in the history books.

And it will never be

fully explained.

[crowd cheering]

[crowd chanting]

USA! USA! USA! USA!

USA! USA!

Thank you very much, everybody.

[scattered cheers]

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Complicated business.

Complicated.

This was tough.

somber music

This political stuff is nasty

and it's tough.

[crowd cheering]

- [Halperin] I think we're done.

- [Heilemann] Well--

Scott says we're done.

- [Heilemann] We wake up today--

- Scott says we're done.

[indistinct chatter]

[Halperin] What are you doing?

- Cleaning

[camera shutters clicking]

[Obama] I want

to emphasize to you,

uh, Mr. President-elect,

that, uh, we

now are gonna, uh,

want to do everything we can

to help you succeed,

because if you succeed,

then the country succeeds.

Thank you, sir.

[reporters all talking at once]

dramatic orchestration

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