Network journalists are still mourning the American public’s rejection of Hillary Clinton. Nightline co-anchor Juju Chang on Wednesday talked about the scene of “devastation” at Clinton’s campaign headquarters and described the loss as a “devastating chapter in what has been a decades-long story of public service.”
A glum Chang looked back at the Democrat’s life and gushed, “Even from her earliest days, young Hillary Rodham seemed destined for greatness.” The sad journalist wondered, “After a hard-fought race, the highest office in the land proved beyond her pioneering grasp. Where does she go from here?”
Highlighting the violent, anti-Trump protests in parts of the country, Chang shifted topics: “Across the country tonight, stunned Hillary Clinton supporters mourning and raising their voices after winning the popular vote but being shut out by the electoral college.”
She appeared to justify: “Hopes dashed. Unable to witness her shatter that highest glass ceiling, turning instead to grief and bewilderment from the streets to the airwaves.”
Chang actually walked along with one of the anti-Trump protests, narrating:
JUJU CHANG: Fighting for what's right is a line straight out of Hillary Clinton's speech this morning where she was calling for unity and embracing a Trump administration. But clearly her supporters, some of them are still very upset. We are literally hiking up the canyons of Manhattan following this protest. It's a smattering of Black Lives Matter, Southern Poverty Law Center, a number of colleges.
Back in July at the Democratic convention, Chang cheered Clinton’s “epic” “milestone.”
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A transcript of the segment is below:
Nightline
11/10/16 (11/9/16 in west coast)
12:52:27AM ETDAN HARRIS: Supporters of Hillary Clinton have been protesting in the streets across America tonight. How will these voters channel their anger during the next four years of Trump? And what now for Hillary herself? Here's my Nightline co-anchor juju Chang.
CROWD CHANTING: No Donald Trump! No Donald Trump!
JUJU CHANG: Across the country tonight, stunned Hillary Clinton supporters mourning and raising their voices after winning the popular vote but being shut out by the electoral college. Up and down the west coast —
CROWD CHANTING: Not my president! Not my president!
CHANG: — to east coast cities like New York. Hopes dashed. Unable to witness her shatter that highest glass ceiling, turning instead to grief and bewilderment from the streets to the airwaves.
JOY BEHAR: As usual, men can get away with anything and women can get away with nothing.
CHANG: The reckoning the morning after on The View. Hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg letting loose on the new President-elect.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: When you scare children by saying, you're not going to let them stay in the country, you're going to separate them? Children don't know what you're talking about.
CHANG: We're in a cab in Manhattan heading toward a protest. It’s sort of smack dab between ABC and Trump Tower. Perhaps only after this historic loss, signs that Clinton's message had connected.
HILLARY CLINTON: This loss hurts. But please, never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it.
CHANG: Fighting for what's right is a line straight out of Hillary Clinton's speech this morning where she was calling for unity and embracing a Trump administration. But clearly her supporters, some of them are still very upset. We are literally hiking up the canyons of Manhattan following this protest. It's a smattering of Black Lives Matter, Southern Poverty Law Center, a number of colleges. Hillary Clinton took to the stage to concede this morning, apologizing to her supporters early on.
CLINTON: That we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.
COKIE ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton acknowledged what I have to assume was the hardest thing for her, which was reaching out to women and especially girls. She knows how deeply, deeply disappointed they are, that there is not a woman president.
CHANG: And offering words of hope and encouragement for the next generation of girls.
CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling. But someday, someone will. And hopefully sooner than we might think right now.
LIZ KREUTZ (ABC News campaign reporter): The concession speech was very emotional for many people in that room. There were staffers, many of whom have worked for her for years and years, crying, consoling each other.
JOSH HASKELL (ABC News campaign reporter): They were just in such shock. They did not know how to handle it or how to react.
CHANG: All this after a long night of uncertainty gave way to one of the most monumental presidential upsets in modern history.
JON KARL: I think maybe the single biggest factor, though, is simply an error in trying to figure out who would turn out to vote. The Obama coalition did not turn out in anywhere near the numbers they turned out in 2008 and 2012.
CHANG: This presidential race was the most divisive in recent memory, splitting voters along the fault lines of whites versus non-whites. Urban versus rural. Men versus women. The scene at Clinton's election night headquarters, one of devastation. Supporters slowly trickling out as it became more and more clear she would not have the 270 electoral votes needed. The only person to take the elaborate stage, campaign Chair John Podesta.
JOHN PODESTA Everybody should head home, you should get some sleep.
CECILIA VEGA: This is a campaign that went into election day thinking they had this in the bag. It was supposed to be a victory party. That's what they thought it would be. Instead we saw staffers leaving in tears.
CHANG: A star-studded backlash on social media. Clinton fan Chris Evans tweeting, “This is an embarrassing night for America. We've hit a hate monger lead our great nation. We've let a bully set our course. I've devastated.” Mylie Cyrus releasing a raw, emotional reaction.
MILEY CYRUS: I still think that in her lifetime she deserves to be the first female president. That's what makes me so sad.
CHANG: 59 million people voted for Hillary. She won the popular vote. Yet they are now the newly disaffected. Where do they go?
LZ GRANDERSON: You get so emotionally invested in breaking through this barrier that when you come up short, you're like wondering, when are we going to have the first female president? Well, the raw numbers show the majority of the country said, we're ready for a first female president.
CHANG: For Hillary Rodham Clinton, falling just short of the White House is a devastating chapter in what has been a decades-long story of public service. From her early days as attorney general working in Arkansas, to her time as First Lady in Bill Clinton's White House.
AL GORE: Would you raise your right hand please?
CHANG: Then, becoming the hard-charging senator from New York. After a bruising primary defeat against Barack Obama, she served as secretary of state—
HILLARY CLINTON: Good morning.
CHANG: For her one-time rival in his administration. Even from her earliest days, young Hillary Rodham seemed destined for greatness. Her Wellesley commencement speech —
CLINTON: Part of the problem with empathy with professed goals is empathy doesn't do us anything. We've had lots of empathy, we've had lots of sympathy. But we feel for too long our lewders have viewed politics as the art of the possible. And the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.
GRANDERSON: She has been the most significant female politician we've ever had in this country's history. Not just because of the accomplishments that she was able to do in terms of securing a nomination, being Secretary of State. But just also being in the public eye that long. Usually those roles are reserved for men in politics. We had a woman basically be in the political arena for 30 years. I don't know any other woman like that.
CHANG: At Clinton's alma mater Wellesley College, so many young women crestfallen.
WOMAN: It's surprising and disappointing, to be honest. I'm from Wisconsin. And they just said that a majority of college-aged women voting in suburbs in Wisconsin voted for Donald Trump. That's really disappointing to hear and see.
CLINTON: May God bless the United States of America!
CHANG: After a hard-fought race, the highest office in the land proved beyond her pioneering grasp. Where does she go from here?
GRANDESON: This is a woman who basically has been in the public spotlight nonstop for more than 30 years.
CHANG: Ask skewered for much of it.
GRANDERSON: Yes. The first thing I would be telling her is hang out with your family, go on vacation with Bill, stay out of the public spotlight. Then begin to figure out, how do I want to serve? Serving's obviously a part of her heart.
