Authors of the New York Times best-selling book “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign” discussed failures of the Democratic candidate’s 2016 presidential bid and the state of national politics in a lecture Friday night at Syracuse University.

“Shattered” co-authors Amie Parnes, a correspondent for The Hill, and Jonathan Allen, an NBC News reporter, spoke at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs on Friday as part of the college’s State of Democracy Lecture Series.

Based off interviews with Clinton staff members, “Shattered” details the campaign’s journey from a “roller coaster of tremendous joy” to “unbelievable defeat,” Allen said.

Throughout the lecture, Parnes and Allen both said it’s difficult to pinpoint any particular reason as to why Clinton’s campaign failed, because the election was so tightly contested. Trump won the Electoral College by 74 votes. But the two authors spent a large portion of the event explaining why they believe Clinton’s candidacy lacked a clear message.

Parnes, describing Clinton’s campaign launch speech on Roosevelt Island in June 2015, said the former secretary of state never explained “why her, why now.”

Conclusions like this, Parnes said, were based off interviews with campaign aides. Those aides remained anonymous in the book.

A lack of clear communication was also an issue within the campaign itself, Allen said. Staff members were afraid to criticize Clinton, he added.

Aside from the campaign’s struggle with messaging strategies and internal organization, Parnes said the country’s political climate also played a role in why Clinton was unsuccessful in her second presidential bid.

Citing pro-populism political movements in the United States and countries such as the United Kingdom, Parnes said 2016 was “the year of the outsider.”

Both journalists also said the Democratic and Republican parties are in disarray following the election.

“I would make the argument that there’s no such thing as the Democratic Party right now,” Allen said. Donors are giving to individual candidates rather than the Democratic National Committee, he said.

There’s a lack of leadership, and “Democrats are looking out for themselves” as opposed to focusing on the party as a whole, he added. For Parnes, the election showed how “parties wanted someone to shake up the system. They didn’t want the same old, same old.”

Allen added the inability of GOP leaders to control Trump during the campaign and a lack of party control during the Senate’s recent special election in Alabama is evidence that the president “has upended the Republican Party.”

Parnes said she’s interested in what the parties will do as officials prepare for 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election.

“Both parties are fighting for their identities,” Parnes said.

Published on November 4, 2017 at 11:52 am

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