Hillary Clinton Reveals She Has 'The Urge' To Run Against Trump, Thinks She Would Win
Two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledged in a recent interview she feels the “urge” to run for a third time in 2020.
Rumors swirled for months that the former secretary of state was interested in another White House bid, though with the Iowa caucuses just one week away, the chances of that happening are now slim to none.
But just because she’s not running doesn’t mean that Clinton, who was defeated by Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primaries before losing to Donald Trump in the 2016 general election, hasn’t felt the pull of politics once more.
Clinton spoke out on the matter during an interview with Variety from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where a four-part documentary series on her life was set to premiere.
The series, “Hillary,” will be released to the general public March 6 on Hulu.
“I know you’re not running for president, but do you ever feel the urge to think: ‘I could beat Donald Trump if I were running?'” Clinton was asked in an interview published Monday.
The 2016 Democratic nominee garnered just 227 Electoral College votes that year, compared with the 306 rightfully earned by Trump. She did defeat him by a roughly 2.9 million-vote margin in the popular vote.
Clinton admitted the thought that she could beat Trump in 2020 has gone through her mind but claimed she is dedicated to supporting the current crop of Democratic candidates.
“Yeah. I certainly feel the urge because I feel the 2016 election was a really odd time and an odd outcome,” she replied. “And the more we learn, the more that seems to be the case.”
New: @HillaryClinton says she feels the “urge” to run again for the White House after the “odd result” of 2016, but she has ruled out a 2020 run. pic.twitter.com/BXY1vqh4LS
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) January 28, 2020
“I’m going to support the people who are running now and do everything I can to help elect the Democratic nominee,” she added.
But the former secretary of state has previously taken a shot at one of the leading Democratic candidates — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s second in most national polls to former Vice President Joe Biden.
In the documentary, Clinton reportedly says of Sanders: “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”
When asked about those comments in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, Clinton responded: “It’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women.”
Clinton sought to downplay those comments in a pair of interviews at the Sundance festival.
“I think we did that interview about a year and a half ago,” she told Variety.
“I wasn’t thinking about the election by any means. I’ve said I’m going to support the nominee. But I do think it’s important to look at somebody’s record and look at what they’ve gotten done and see whether you agree with that or not. I think that’s what every voter paying attention should do.”
Meanwhile, she pointed out to The Associated Press that her controversial comment from the documentary was one 15-second moment out of roughly 35 hours of interviews she did for the series.
Clinton told Variety she thinks it’s important that Democrats rally around the eventual Democratic nominee in order to defeat Trump.
“I am telling everybody here at Sundance, everywhere I go, please, please go out and vote,” she said.
“And then, whoever the nominee is, support the nominee, whether it’s someone you voted on or not in the primary process, because the most important responsibility we all have is to retire Donald Trump.”
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