Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Friday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that it was difficult for President Biden and Democrats to negotiate with Republican lawmakers because they were “operating in an alternative reality.”
Host Joy Reid said, “Let’s talk about January 6th. It was such a jarring moment in American history. You’ve been the subject of conspiracy theories, probably, your whole career. Maybe even since you were at Wellesley.”
She added, “When you hear people like Senator Ron Johnson downplay what happened on January 6th and the savagery that you just heard Officer Fanone describe, do you see in the Republican Party, a party that believes enough in democracy to be negotiated with on big things that affect the American people?”
Clinton said, “I think they’ve proven that they are not open to negotiation because they’re not open to reality in too many cases. You just mentioned one — trying to deny and actually substitute a totally false scenario for what we all saw with our own eyes on January 6th is indicative of how far gone they are. I mean, they’ve really, you know, they’re operating in an alternative reality.”
She added, “However, they have votes. So, I think what the Biden/Harris administration understands is, you have to at least try to see whether there is a way to get the sensible members of the Republican Party that are left in the Senate to agree. And if they can, then move forward, trying to figure out how much can be agreed upon and then add whatever else you think is needed. But if that’s not going to happen, if we’re going to see this kind of, you know, charade played out, then I think that President Biden knows that he has to move forward without them. As he did with the American Rescue Plan.”
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