Clinton takes on ‘Between Two Ferns’ ahead of first general election debate
On Friday, Democratic presidential Hillary Clinton appeared on the “Funny or Die” web series “Between Two Ferns,” where Zack Galifianakis conducts awkward and deprecating interviews with various celebrities and public figures.
Clinton is not the first political figure to take on Galifianakis’ prodding; in March 2014, President Barack Obama appeared as a guest and was questioned on the validity of his birth certificate, the functionality of the Affordable Care Act website and how he felt about being the “last black president,” among many other controversial topics. Throughout the interview, Obama took everything in stride, firing back jabs and insults, seemingly without missing a beat.
Galiafianakis took a different approach while interviewing Clinton. While he certainly did not hold back on her — she was asked at the end of the interview if the best way to reach her was by email, and cut her off mid-sentence to play a Donald Trump ad— most of his questions revolved around her feelings toward her Republican adversary, and eventually led to jabs taken on him instead.
The interview itself serves its purpose; it shows Clinton can be funny and relatable, and that she is self-aware. But as you dig deeper, it seems to fit a common theme she — and most politicians these days — tend toward and are widely criticized for; focusing too much on tearing down their opponent rather than focusing on their own policy.
Trump spent much of the Republican primary election mocking his opponents and very little time explaining the details of his policy. Once the general election race began, he seamlessly transitioned to questioning and criticizing Clinton’s every move.
At the same time, Clinton spent much of the Democratic primary questioning Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s voting records, then turned to calling out Trump on his consistently controversial statements once the Democratic nomination was sealed up.
It seems likely this trend will continue going into the first general election debate on Monday night.
This will be the first time both Clinton and Trump will be in a head-to-head debate, and the first time Trump finds himself one-on-one with another candidate since his nomination.
An evening with the loud and confident Trump taking the stage next to the consummate professional Clinton is sure to be a clash of styles, and is bound to be unlike anything that has been seen in this election cycle so far.
Catch the debate Monday at 9 p.m. on most major news networks.
Contact Nicholas Hunter at [email protected].