Chasing Hillary summary

Soon after the author was assigned to follow Clinton, it became clear that all was not well; Clinton’s press aides essentially ignored her. However, the author wasn’t going to let that stop her doing her job. She was determined to keep filing stories. But even these, no matter how tepid, upset Clinton’s press team.

The author published a story in the New York Times Magazine called Planet Hillary in January 2014. The graphic accompanying the article depicted Clinton’s face as a pale planet, surrounded by a galaxy of minions. It was all a bit tongue-in-cheek: those pictured around her included her closest advisors, her hardest workers, her husband’s and daughter’s entourages and her backstabbing friends.

On March 4, 2015, at 11:35 p.m., Hillary Clinton tweeted that the public would have access to her emails, and they were being prepared for redacted release.

Within minutes, this message was retweeted thousands of times. It was huge news, and it was an attempt on Clinton’s part to put an end to a story that had refused to die.

One thing that Clinton often doesn’t get credit for is her sense of humor.

When she was asked once more about her email at the end of summer 2015, Clinton was ready with a quip in hand. She joked that she had just registered for a Snapchat account, the social media service best known for automatically deleting messages and pictures once they’ve been read by the recipient.

While many people expected Clinton to cruise to eventual victory in the presidential election, she still had to secure the official endorsement from the Democratic Party. It was supposed to be a mere technicality – but everyone was in for a surprise. Senator Bernie Sanders was determined to give Clinton a run for her money and, crucially, his campaign seemed a lot more fun.

Journalists on the Bernie Bus were exuberant and said it felt like they were witnessing a revolution. In contrast, the author and 20 other journalists on Clinton’s bus felt they were stuck in an interminable funeral cortege.

If you were following the 2016 presidential campaign, then what no doubt struck you was just how few positive stories there were about Hillary Clinton.

But this wasn’t only the media’s fault. In fact, Clinton really shot herself in the foot on this one thanks to her general distrust of the media.

In the run-up to the election, every Sunday for more than a year, Hillary Clinton worshipped at one of the country’s many black churches.

But this wasn’t some false gesture aimed at getting black votes; Clinton takes her Christian values very seriously. And these Sundays also showcased her best side.

In January 2016, the Democratic primaries were going badly for Clinton. The challenge from Bernie Sanders was far stronger than expected. His ads were running all over the country, and polls showed that he might even be able to win the Democratic nomination ahead of Clinton.

Clinton refused to get depressed and slink away in the face of Sanders’s challenge. In fact, the threat galvanized her. She was utterly fantastic as an underdog, and Bill Clinton knew this too. He often claimed that Clinton only showed her best side in politics when she really had to come out guns blazing.

Clinton's defeat of Bernie Sanders was historic. She became the first woman to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major party.

But she now faced an altogether different opponent: Donald Trump was the Republican Party candidate, and he was cut from a different cloth.

On election night, the Democrats were confident that it would be an easy win for Clinton. But, as we know, Trump triumphed. The Democrats were shaken to their core: it was shocking and deeply depressing to have such a terrible candidate win.

They weren’t the only ones. The journalists – many of whom were women – who’d been assigned to follow Clinton, were shell-shocked, too. They gathered the morning after the election to watch Clinton’s concession speech. For them, Clinton’s loss was not only about the figure of Clinton herself; it symbolized and encapsulated the insecurities many women feel about their professional standing and worth in the United States today.