Hillary Clinton recently passed through the Sundance Film Festival to promote director Nanette Burstein’s new docuseries, “Hillary,” which examines the politico’s journey toward the presidency and… well, we all know how that worked out. In any case, her spirits were high at the IndieWire Studio, presented by Dropbox, in Park City, where she talked about the many political issues Burstein’s documentary takes on — including how opportunities for women and minorities are being affected by the Trump administration.
“Rather than looking at how we try to expand opportunity for everybody, there is a tendency in human nature, especially if it is inflamed as we see now with the current President and his party, to make people feel that anybody else’s advance — whether it’s women or immigrants or minorities or anywhere — somehow takes away from them and their position in society,” Clinton said. “If you strip down the appeal that Trump makes, and that is echoed by the Republican party now, it is that fear that somebody else is going to take your place. That story, that is in the film, gives a lot of food for thought about how we have ended up where we are today.”
Clinton also talked about how such challenges to opportunity have emboldened women to push forward — a narrative that reflects Clinton’s own as a presidential candidate. “More women are now in college than men. That’s not taking a place so much as choices [are] being made about who’s pursuing higher education, and why. Women’s employment is slightly higher than men’s right now in this very full-employment economy, and it’s largely because industries that men were predominantly in are declining while health care, education, those are increasing,” Clinton said.
Clinton also said that, despite “internal hesitancy” about women in leadership positions, she is optimistic about one day having a woman serve as President of the United States. “If this film can spark those conversations so that maybe we can clear away some of the underbrush that stands in the way of a woman being elected President in our country, it will be a great step forward,” she said.
As for the upcoming election and what it means for the future of the United States, Clinton said, “We have to elect different people, and I don’t mean that as an utterly simplistic answer, because I think it’s profoundly important.” She also said, “Very powerful interests — financial, ideological, and religious interests — either want to push back progress or prevent progress. There is no debate about the existential crisis of climate change. But we have one political party that won’t do anything about it because their donors, their supporters are on the side of denial. This is not a ‘both sides bear responsibility.’ This is one side in pursuit of profit and greed and all that goes with it, standing in the way.”
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