-We have two books to talk about --
"It Takes a Village" and then, also, "What Happened."
I noticed "What Happened" -- Let´s start with this one.
There´s no question mark.
-There is no question mark. Right.
-So it´s not, like, "What happened?"
-Yeah. And there´s no exclamation point, either.
-That´s true, yeah.
So it´s up to the reader to really say.
But this is your recollection of what happened.
-That´s exactly right, Jimmy.
You know, it´s my best effort to kind of pull the curtain back,
invite people in to see what happened
from my perspective, and to talk about, you know,
the things that I didn´t get right,
and the other stuff that was going on at the same time.
-Yeah, so it´s not a book just saying, like,
"Oh, this went wrong."
It´s about what could go wrong, also --
-I think that´s a really important point about the book.
Some things will never happen again,
but, unfortunately, other stuff is still happening
and could keep happening,
like the Russian interference, for example,
like voter suppression, trying to keep young people
and African-Americans and others from voting.
So, I want people to read it, and to know it´s kind of a --
a very personal look, and it´s a story of resilience
on the part of what I went through,
but, also, other people have told me --
I´ve been doing all these book signings,
and I´ve talked to thousands of people that,
you know, it was important to them, personally,
and then to take lessons so that we can protect our country.
-Can we go to -- Talk about election night.
-Oh. -Sorry.
[ Laughter ] I have to.
I have to bring -- I mean, yeah.
Again, no spoilers, but the end --
You won´t even believe the end of this book.
-Yeah. -You really --
-Yeah, I´m still scratching my head.
-Yeah.
You´re there election night, and you just have to be
just in a bad place.
I mean, just got to be. -Well, I --
It didn´t start out that way. -Yeah.
Did you know -- Did you have any intel at all?
-No. No. I mean...
I mean, that´s one of the big mysteries about this election
is that the information that I had
was not just from my campaign
but from so many different sources.
Obviously, different campaigns
and candidates and the press and others.
And so when the first returns started coming in
and we heard that it wasn´t going well for us
in Florida and North Carolina, you know, it was worrying
but not definitive, because there are
a number of different ways to get to the votes
you need in the Electoral College.
But then, by, you know, the end of the night,
by midnight, and we saw what was happening in Pennsylvania,
Michigan, and Wisconsin, you know, look,
I was devastated, and I was not
just because I thought I was going to win
and I wanted to be president
and to do the work of being president
but because I was so worried about
what it meant to have my opponent win.
So it was a really tough night.
-Do you think, like, if you were up against
a different Republican, would you have felt different?
-I would have. I would have.
Yeah, I´ve thought about that a lot.
You know, look, if I had lost to another Republican,
somebody who I disagreed with
but who I thought was temperamentally capable
of being president, who would take the job
and the awesome responsibility seriously,
of course I´d be disappointed,
but I wouldn´t be so worried about my country and the world
as I am now when I see what´s going on every single day.
-And every single day, it really is a new thing
where you go, "I can´t believe this is happening now."
-Yeah. Yeah.
-Are you kind of, you know, going, "I would --
I would do this differently."
-Well, you can´t help but think about that.
And, you know, recently, with the hurricanes
and particularly the damage in the Virgin Islands
and in Puerto Rico, you know,
I was right in the middle of our government responding
to the horrible effects of the earthquakes in Haiti,
so I knew what we´re capable of doing.
And, you know, I waited, because I thought, you know,
"They don´t need me saying, ´Hey, send naval assets,
get the hospital ship
but a couple of days later, nothing was happening,
so I tweeted.
I tweeted at the president and the Secretary of Defense
and the Defense Department, and I basically, you know,
implored them to send naval assets,
including the hospital ship.
And it took a few more days, and then finally, they did.
I mean, there´s just --
It´s hard to figure out, you know,
what are the priorities if 3.5 million Americans --
and Puerto Ricans are Americans --
Let´s make sure people remember that.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Yes. Absolutely.
-You know, if they aren´t --
if they aren´t the highest priority of your government
in responding to such a terrible natural disaster,
what are you people spending your time doing, right?
Golfing, tweeting, watching cable TV?
I mean, find some time to tell the Navy
to get down there and rescue people
and provide food and provisions and medical care.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And the only way to get his attention is to tweet at him?
-Well, I suppose I could go on some of the TV shows he watches.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-But, you know, look, I think tweeting helps.
You know, he tweeted against my book.
-I saw that. He tweeted against your book.
-The "What Happened" book. -Yes.
And you said?
-"Well, fine. I´ve got another book, a children´s book.
Maybe you´ll read that one."
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
Also, it´s a story of cooperation
and community building and, you know, helping our kids
really value diversity and work together.
I think that´s a pretty good American message, right?
-Yeah. It could actually help.
[ Cheers and applause ]