Review: What Happened

Hillary Rodham Clinton did not lose the 2016 election.

It was stolen.

Had Comey not released his letter a week before the election, she would have a decent margin in the polls. That is clear from the math. It caused a direct fall in the polls that she could not recover or respond to fast enough time time. It really is that simple.

"But that was enough?" is a good question. Shouldn't Clinton have been better than that? Clinton has her own answers: Sexism, the historical wind of parties being unable to hold onto political power for more than two terms, and, of course, the electoral college. These are all good and sufficient answers.

There ought to be something that brings any of the late-millennials a pang of worry: there has only been one election in their lives that Republicans have won the popular election. That is, of 25 years, more than 1/3 of them has seen a Republican, despite Republicans only winning 1/6 of all popular votes. That calls into question the ideas of democracy or republicanism (little r).

Clinton herself is worried: Her writing style is still lawerly. It is still... not good and she often descends into reciting names like the credits at the end of a movie, just like she had in past books. Yet, in between her name dropping and "scene" describing, there is pointed analysis that is worth reading and snark that is worth laughing at.

Read this book for the humor, the analysis, and the pain of reliving 2016. (But don't read it if you expect Clinton to write an emotional memoir that moves you).