Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, criticized Hillary’s recent remarks in India that Trump voters were racist and sexist. She told S.E. Cupp Tuesday that the comments were “bad” and she couldn’t sugarcoat them. She also echoed Meghan McCain’s comment on “The View” that this was bad messaging for Democrats headed into the midterm elections.
"His whole campaign: 'Make America Great Again' was looking backwards,” Hillary told a crowd in Mumbai of Trump. “You know, you didn't like black people getting rights, you don't like women, you know, getting jobs, you don't want to you know see that Indian American succeeding more than you are, whatever your problem is, I'm going to solve it.' So it was a symptom."
"Look, this was bad. I can’t sugarcoat it," Solis Doyle said. "She was wrong and clearly it’s not helpful to Democrats going into the midterms and certainly not going into 2020. She's put herself in a position where Democrats are going to have to distance themselves from these remarks and distance themselves from her, particularly those Democrats that are running in the states that Donald Trump won."
Solis Doyle did argue that while what Hillary said was wrong, “If you unpack it a little bit more and go down a couple of layers down, you know, it is true that cultural issues and issues about race and issues about sexism played a major role in 2016 and it continues to play a major role in our politics today.”
She concluded that there was “a kernel of truth” in Clinton’s remarks.
“Much of the reason is that President Trump injects these issues into our, you know, atmosphere whether it’s because he’s attacking football players who kneel during the national anthem,” she said, “or whether you know the Stormy Daniels story or saying that there are very fine people on both sides after Charlottesville so you know there’s a kernel of truth in what she says, I mean it was inartfully done.”
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Cupp asked how Clinton’s divisive remarks were “any better than Trump’s divisive language,” saying "if she had been elected and said something like that, I think a lot of people would have been very hurt by that and felt like he was not the president of everyone."
"You're right, they are very divisive comments,” Solis Doyle agreed, “I would like to think if she were elected president she would not be speaking that way, but again these issues are very prominent in our politics today. I mean let’s face it the strength of the resistance is really fueled by, energized by fighting Trump on these very issues, fighting him on racism and sexism.”
Solis Doyle also said that she didn’t think Hillary should stop speaking out, but that perhaps she should refocus her public comments.
"I think she is still coming to terms with the loss, and if I were in her shoes, so would I," she said. "I don't think the answer is to hush her up or, you know, take her away from the public view. I think she has a lot to offer."
“I just think she needs to stop talking about what happened and start talking about what can be,” she concluded.
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