Hillary Clinton's Latest Book Proves She Still Doesn't Understand What Happened in the 2016 Election

Hillary Clinton still doesn’t get it—and she probably never will.

In her new book about the 2016 campaign, What Happened, Clinton cites myriad reasons for losing the race to Donald Trump—white supremacy, misogyny, the timing of former FBI Director James Comey’s letter, and Senator Bernie Sanders’ unexpected popularity—all of which are true, but only to a point.

In the 500-page book, Clinton makes clear that she’s a political pragmatist, as evidenced by her claiming during the campaign that she backed a 1996 federal law against same-sex marriage as a firewall so conservatives wouldn’t push for a constitutional amendment on the issue. That wasn’t true, but it shows how strongly she believes in the politics of the lesser evil.

Clinton never challenged the status quo during the campaign—and almost certainly wouldn’t have as president—because she’s built a career on upholding the status quo. Maybe, just maybe, it was her politics that were always the problem.