Yeah, you were just talking to Mr. Mathis, huh?
I was talking to Mr. Mathis.
My gosh.
That was amazing.
Yeah.
What a great guy.
What a brave man.
Yeah.
Um, hi.
Hi.
Yeah, it seems like the last time I saw you,
you said we were going to do the show in the White House,
and we were all excited about that.
We would have, too.
Yeah, we were going to do that.
Yeah.
Well, it didn't work out that way.
No, it didn't.
So I thought I'd come back and see how you're doing.
Yeah, thanks.
Thanks.
Not so good.
Well, but, you know, I'm trying to stay
in a really positive frame of mind.
You know, I always say when people ask me, how are you?
I say, well, as a person, I'm OK.
But as an American, I am really concerned.
I'm a little tiny less concerned after Alabama
because I think it was a great example of people understanding
what was at stake, and working hard, and actually turning
out and voting.
Nothing is more important than that.
So it was positive.
Yeah, that showed that.
So let's-- I mean you talk about it in your book--
but let's talk about--
so you were here three weeks before the election.
Yes.
You were confident.
I was.
I was confident.
A lot of people were confident.
I mean, it seemed like it was a for-sure thing.
I mean, what a shock.
What happened?
What was going through your mind when
you saw what was happening?
Well, it's one of the reasons why
I decided to write the book-- because I
didn't know what happened.
I knew there were certain factors at work,
and after the election I learned a lot more about the impact
that they had.
I mean, it was a perfect storm.
I mean, there were a lot of currents
of resentment and anger about all kinds of things.
In the country, there was a lot of sexism and misogyny--
which now, thankfully, we're kind of pulling out of the dark
and talking about.
There was voter suppression-- people
trying to prevent other Americans
from being able to vote.
There was the FBI's intervention on October 28,
after I saw you, which had a devastating effect.
Because people thought, oh my gosh,
I can't vote for somebody who is once again under FBI
investigation, even though there was-- again-- nothing to it.
And then there were the Russians.
The Russians.
And the Russians were much more involved
than even I understood.
And so, after the election, and after the real devastating
shock of it, I kept saying, well, what happened?
You know, because I wanted to understand it.
Because obviously, I made mistakes.
My campaign made mistakes.
Every candidate, every campaign, does.
And I wanted to be as candid about those as possible.
But I knew that there was more at work.
And so, it wasn't just about me and my election.
It really was about these forces at play.
So I decided I'd dive in and write this book.
It was really painful.
I mean, I'd write and I'd literally
have to go and lie down.
It was so painful.
But it ended up being cathartic.
And so, writing the book, going for walks in the woods,
playing with my dogs, doing yoga, seeing my grandkids,
cleaning my closets, drinking chardonnay--
I mean, all of that--
That all helps.
That all helped a lot.
And during that time--
is there any part of you now, or during that time,
that you're just like, aah.
I'm glad.
I mean, your whole life has been that.
So are you happy now to just be a person and have freedom?
Because that must have been exhausting.
It's great.
I get to see my friends, my family.
I get to do things that I really enjoy.
On the other hand, I see things happening that I know
are bad for the country.
And one of the reasons I was so thrilled
about Doug Jones getting elected is
that, all through his campaign, he
talked about reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance
Program, something that I helped to start
in the late '90s, which was totally bipartisan.
And nine million kids get their health care because of it.
And it's going to run out.
And kids are going to lose their health care.
So I was so proud and grateful to see somebody say, hey, we've
got to get this reauthorized.
So I do see things that go on every day that
really disturb me a lot.
And obviously, I think, I wouldn't have done that,
or boy, I can't believe they're doing this.
So, yeah, it does bother me still.
That must happen every five minutes.
It does.
That's why I'm on a kind of news diet.
Because I can't watch it all the time because I really do
get agitated.
Yeah.
I mean, I can imagine.
I feel the same way because it upsets me so much.
And when you see what's going on--
and you can't write some of this stuff.
You're just thinking, if this was a movie,
people would go, oh that--
there's no way.
That would--
And it just continues to go on.
I mean, do you think that he's really
going to last four years?
Well, you know, I can't answer that.
I can't predict it.
But I believe that it really does come down
to both the investigation that's going on
and to whether Republicans will decide that they have to put
our country before their party.
And I hope that enough of them will decide to do that,
because it is disturbing.
And it's obviously upsetting to me
because I see things happening around
the world that are bad for our country, that are dangerous,
that really pose a threat.
And then I see all this happening inside our country.
And when they push through this tax plan,
it's going to hurt so many people.
Look, it's going to help a lot of really rich people.
That's who they care about.
That's who their donors are.
But it's going to hurt--
I mean, can you imagine taking away
the deduction for teachers who buy
supplies for their classrooms?
Who thinks like that?
And so, there's a lot that's going to end up hurting people.
And then, obviously, flaming the flames of white supremacy
and misogyny and homophobia and everything else that
is, unfortunately, at work.
So I think the investigation will go on,
and that will lead where it leads.
But at some point, Republicans who
control the Congress have to say,
we don't really want to let this go on.
We have to investigate.
Or we have to win back the House and the Senate next November,
which is something I hope we do.
And then, we can get back to doing the people's business.
All right.
We have to take a break.
I have to say, I don't want to-- because I don't believe
that you can group a whole bunch of people together-- there are
some Republicans that are really good, good people
and have good intentions.
So it is the party, the Republican party--
this is not what it was.
This is not what it should be.
And so, I do not want to bash Republicans.
I don't want to bash anybody.
I think that's important for me to say.
Because I obviously wanted you to be
president and believed in you and have strong opinions.
But I also want to say that I don't judge everybody
by this president.