Hillary Clinton remains extremely dissatisfied with the results of the 2016 US presidential election.
Despite winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, the former secretary of state and first lady lost the electoral vote and, by extension, the presidency, largely because the former reality star and real estate heir won three key states in the typically blue Rust Belt (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin) by a combined 80,000-vote margin. Now, Clinton is airing her dissatisfaction with America’s electoral system in a new Netflix documentary series, “The American Experiment,” which debuts June 24.
“Well, personally, I think the electoral college is an abomination,” Hillary Clinton said, adding, “It’s obvious why.”
Directed by Brian Knappenberger (“The Trial of Gabriel Fernandez”) and executive produced by Tom Hanks, “The American Experiment” is a five-part documentary that examines the history and structure of America up to its founding, and includes interviews with dozens of politicians and historians, including Clinton, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi. The project will be released to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary.
“I expected to ask former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton about one of the most painful moments of her life,” Knappenberger told Variety. “She rarely speaks candidly about that election night, so we’re really glad she’s doing so in this series. She has a unique perspective as one of only five people in American history to win the popular vote and lose the presidency. The 2016 election is also notable for Hillary Clinton’s landslide victory over Donald Trump in the popular vote.”
In fact, according to a Pew Research poll, 63% of Americans want presidential elections to be decided by popular vote rather than the Electoral College (the group of presidential electors who vote for president and vice president). The number of electors in each state is equal to the size of its Congressional delegation, or the number of senators (2) plus the number of representatives in the state’s House of Representatives. Therefore, people in states with small populations have a disproportionate say in presidential elections.
“The founders themselves did not love the Electoral College. The Electoral College was flawed from the beginning,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) in the documentary. “We have a problem where the structure of the Electoral College allows a minority of the population to control the majority, sometimes over the objections of the majority.”
“The American Experiment” currently serves as a kind of counterpoint to the 250th anniversary of Freedom that President Trump honors himself with, but Knappenberger says that was certainly not the intention. Most of all, this documentary serves as a historical lesson about the fissures of America’s founding and how strong and fragile American democracy really is.
“Some of Hamilton’s writings feel astonishingly prescient,” Knappenberger explains. “In this series, we discuss his warning that America could one day have a tyrant-like figure who would ‘throw things into chaos and ride the storm and lead the way.'” Knappenberger explains. “The Founders didn’t quite foresee it, but by the time George Washington left office, he crafted an eloquent farewell speech that warned that partisan divisions could tear the new nation apart. This was one of his greatest fears. Washington believed that America’s strength came from unity. Today, we find ourselves more divided than at any point in our history since the Civil War.”
