Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton revealed some of the more personal details of her devastating 2016 loss to Republican Donald Trump, telling a New York City audience on Thursday that she turned to prayer in the wake of defeat.
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Clinton, who said she didn’t expect to lose, made her candid remarks at Riverside Church in Manhattan, where she spoke openly about her faith and said that turning to God was one of the ways she coped with the shocking election results, CNN reported.
Hillary Clinton: I relied on prayer, yoga and "my fair share of Chardonnay" after the "devastating" 2016 loss https://t.co/7XsPe8VtCe pic.twitter.com/xErYLBxa5E
— CNN (@CNN) September 8, 2017
“I relied on several tools, one of which was prayer, and I was lifted up and blessed by a lot of people who sent me prayers, sent me spiritual readings,” Clinton said. “I also had the support of my family. … my friends rallied around and were so supportive.”
In addition to personal support, she said that Yoga helped and quipped that she also relied on her “fair share of Chardonnay.”
Clinton’s discussion of her election defeat offered some seemingly genuine perspective on how difficult it was not only for her to process the results, but also to appear before the nation and world to concede the presidential position she so desperately craved.
“We were in the back seat of our car on the way back to our home,” she said of her emotional state after delivering her concession speech. “I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t really have any internal resources left.”
Clinton’s remarks were made at a fundraising event for Camp Olmsted, a kids camp run by the United Methodist City Society, as CNN noted. Her spiritual mentor, the Rev. Bill Shillady, backed out of the event after his publisher pulled his new book from shelves.
See Clinton’s full remarks below:
Shillady, who sent Clinton daily devotions and prayers while she was on the campaign trail, recently released, “Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” but less than a month after the book came out, publisher Abingdon Press said purported plagiarism meant that it would need to be yanked.
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