THE UNTOLD STORIES OF ELECTION DAY 2016

Esquire ^ | 11/5/2017 | ESQUIRE EDITORS

[Beave Meister]

On November 8, 2016, America's chief storytellers—those within the bubbles of media and politics—lost the narrative they had controlled for decades. In a space of 24 hours, the concept of "conventional wisdom" seemed to vanish for good. How did this happen? What follows are over 40 brand new interviews and behind-the-scenes stories from deep inside The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, and more—plus first-hand accounts from the campaigns, themselves. We've spent a year hearing the spin. Now it's time for the truth.

THE RUN-UP

Steve Bannon, Trump campaign CEO: When I first came on the campaign, I said, “You have a hundred-percent chance of winning.” We just got to stick to that plan. Even with Billy Bush, I never wavered for a second.

Jim Margolis, Clinton campaign senior adviser: I am normally a glass-half-empty guy when it comes to expectations on election days. This was the first big election where I was absolutely certain we were going to win.

[AZLiberty]

There are enough liberal tears here that I can luxuriate in a nice warm bath.

[catnipman]

“Here are insiders, people in the know, who are admitting that the Dems engage in voter fraud. Telling, I thought. “

yes, that comment of Bannon’s jumped out at me as well.

the other sterling comment in the article was from Bannon as well:

“Never watched it. Couldn’t care less. Her, Podesta, all of it. I thought they were overrated. I thought they were—they’re a media creation. People say how genius they were, how brilliant they were. Look, I’d never been on a campaign in my life. But I can understand math. Just looking at where it was gonna come down to. Morning Joe tells me they’re so brilliant every day. Why are they not getting some pretty fundamental stuff here? But no, I had no interest in seeing her concession speech. I have no interest in a damn thing with their campaign because I don’t think they knew what they were doing. I only have interest in what we did. Which was just, focus, focus, focus.”