What kind of day has it been? The kind where Jeff Daniels is asked to resurrect his character from The Newsroom to talk about the 2016 presidential election.
In a video produced by Bloomberg Television for With All Due Respect with hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Daniels embodied News Night anchor Will McAvoy to recreate his first scene as the character and pontificate on the expected presidential battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Asked what makes Trump the “best-case scenario” for Clinton, Daniels first jokes that Trump could donate to her campaign. Pushed to answer the actual question, however, the actor turned full McAvoy: “He’s not the best-case scenario, John, that’s my answer. Donald Trump is a fact-bending loose cannon who alienates mainstream voters with everything he says. But he gets constant media attention for free. There won’t be a day from now until November when Trump isn’t on every TV channel.”
As for Clinton? “There’s absolutely no evidence that Trump is the best-case scenario for Hillary Clinton. 38 percent of the people gave her a favorable rating. 30 percent of the people said she’s honest and trustworthy. Just 22 percent of Democrats say they’re enthusiastic about her being the nominee,” Daniels said, his voice now in the familiar tone of McAvoy. “Sure, she beats Trump in some categories: like millennials, who don’t even show up to vote. She also leads in number messages deleted on her personal email server. But that aside. When you ask what makes Trump the best-case scenario for Hillary, I don’t know what the f— you’re talking about. His tiny hands?”
Watch the original scene from the pilot of The Newsroom here, and check out Daniels’ peek at what season 4 of The Newsroom could have looked like in the current political climate below.
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