Bill Clinton: People Were Giving Trump Too Much Credit Because They Didn’t Realize He ‘Inherited’ Good Economy from Obama

SCARBOROUGH: “We need to go back and meet people where they live and talk to them about what they’re interested in. I realized that, you know, it’s easy to underestimate the intelligence of people when they’re focusing on what they care about, but you got to deal with what people are living with. President Biden will leave office with a record of creating — having more jobs created in his four years than in any previous four-year period in American history. No matter how many is that, if that number were 50 million, it’ll be about 16 to 18, somewhere between that, if it were 50 million, it would be nowhere near the number of people who are affected by inflation and food prices. So you have to discuss these things. You can’t pretend — no business, no marriage, no friendship, no nothing can succeed and thrive if you don’t deal with the Pink elephant in the room.”
Clinton: “Talk about how Democrats maybe could learn from that and maybe stop firing at each other and start working together.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Yeah. Look, I don’t even believe the real problem is whether you should be more verbally left or center. I think you got to talk like people talk who will make the difference in the outcome of the election. You don’t have to sell out what you believe in, but you do have to meet people where they live. And you can’t get very far avoiding it. Like, you and I have now been friends for years. We’ve got our political differences and we’ve got a political history, but I know you and I like you. Now, suppose you and Mika just did a makeover of your living room and you asked me to come visit. And I visit and it is beautiful. Everything about it is beautiful, except in the corner, you’ve got this beautiful curve couch, but behind the couch, there’s a Pink elephant.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Yeah.” (Laughter)
Clinton: “And now I could ask you, I said, ‘I guess you’re still a Republican. You just turned a little Pink or something.’ We could do it. We find it. It almost doesn’t matter what I say.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Right.”
Clinton: “The one thing I cannot do is to come in, drink your coffee, talk about how beautiful your living room is and turn around and not mention the Pink elephant.”
SCARBOROUGH: “And ignore it. I think a lot of Democrats, a lot of people like me, independents, I was focused on Donald Trump’s political rhetoric, his violent political rhetoric. I said it sounded like fascist rhetoric to me. You combine that with January 6, you combined it with everything else, I kept talking about that every day because for me, that was what mattered the most to me. But the Pink elephant over there, that’s the cost of groceries. That’s the cost of gas. That’s the thing they’ve got to take care of first, right?”
Clinton: “Yep. Well, the average person believes whether they voted for President Trump or not the first time that we survived.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Right.”
Clinton: “And they give him perhaps too much credit for the fact that in the first two and a half years or so of his presidency, the first time the economy got better. I think that facts are that he inherited the end of the Obama era’s recovery. We went from 8 million jobs in Obama’s last two 6.5 million in Trump’s first two years. But there was no inflation and people felt it. So we had to see that election the way they did and answer that and start with that. So when we didn’t answer it, it was like we left the Pink elephant in the living room. There is a reason why we’re already the longest continuously existing democracy in history. It’s hard to save one. That’s fine. But if you’re going to fight to save it in an election system with all these forces laying down on you, that’s the game you got to play. You got to deal with the issues that affect other people’s lives. And the same thing’s true all around the world. Look at this upheaval that’s happening. People are losing faith in institutions and in many, many places, they’re going to reward the people that destroyed their faith. I wouldn’t bet against America. So far, everybody that’s bet against us has lost money. We just got to stay after it.”
SCARBOROUGH: “All right, Mr. President, book is ‘Citizen.’ What a great honor. Thank you so much.”
Clinton: “Thank you.”
SCARBOROUGH: “It’s great seeing you again.”
Clinton: “I’m glad to see you.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Yes, sir.”