There was Allie Rohletten, a 20-year-old college student, who had been inspired by Clinton’s “history of proving that women can do anything men can do”, and Juan Cuba, a 29-year-old from New Jersey, who had felt that Clinton’s focus on supporting first-generation Americans and LGBT people, and her focus on mental health issues, had spoken directly to him.
There was also Kristen Blush, 36, who said that even compared with Donald Trump “I hate Bernie more”, saying of the Vermont senator who ran Clinton close for the Democratic nomination: “He hurt us from the inside.”
Some Democrats have criticized Clinton’s new book, arguing that a book tour dwelling on Clinton’s loss to Trump is not what the party needs at this moment. In her memoir, Clinton comes out swinging against Bernie Sanders, the news media’s coverage of her campaign, FBI director James Comey, and the rampant misogyny facing women in politics.
But the most enthusiastic of the 65.8 million Americans who voted for Clinton seem to disagree. They are hungry for an authoritative account of what has happened to America – an account that comes from the candidate herself. Those at the front of the Tuesday morning line had arrived at the Barnes and Noble the previous afternoon, but their mood was upbeat nearly 13 hours later. They were wearing Clinton shirts and Clinton pins, and taking comfort in each other’s company.
“I want them to stop telling women to shut up, and I want them to stop telling Hillary to shut up and go away,” Blush said. She said she had met some of the other supporters in the line already, including one woman she had first encountered on social media as they both pushed back against the trolls commenting on Clinton’s Instagram account.
Blush said that as a “grown woman” she should be too old to wait in an all-night line, but she had wanted Clinton to know how much her supporters cared, how she wanted her to see the dramatic evidence of how much her fans still backed her.
Clinton had seen. At about 10pm the previous night, the former secretary of state had pizza delivered to the dozen people who were spending the night on the pavement to see her. Her Twitter account had also sent an emoji-laden tweet sharing a photo of their surprised faces in front of a stack of pizza boxes.
The 10 months since Clinton’s defeat, on an election night that left her supporters stunned and weeping, had been dark ones for those waiting in line. Cuba said one high point had been watching Clinton sit on stage at Trump’s inauguration, no matter what she must have been feeling inside. “Oh my god, she’s so strong,” he said.
“I really just want to say thank you, and keep fighting,” he said.
The first person in line said he had not voted at all in the presidential election – and that he regretted it.
Brian Maisonet, a 29-year-old from Brooklyn, said he had arrived at 3.30pm on Monday to get his book signed by Clinton at 11am the next morning.
He had initially liked Trump’s focus on jobs, his America-first rhetoric, and “I liked the fact that he was honest – or seemed honest.” But after Trump’s comments about women – including boasts about sexual assault – Maisonet drew the line.
At the same time, Clinton’s past had concerned him. The allegations about “pay for play” with the Clinton Foundation had “rocked me”, he said, recalling seeing a documentary, Clinton Cash.
In November, he had chosen not to vote, feeling that “I just wasn’t convinced” on either candidate, and not believing that Trump could win.
Maisonet said had not known that the Clinton Cash documentary and the book which had preceded it had been launched by a nonprofit which was co-founded by Trump adviser, and later Trump White House aide, Steve Bannon.
“Was it really?” he said. “That’s so scary.”
After almost nine months of watching Trump in the White House, he was still hopeful Trump would prosper. But he said: “I wish I had voted for Clinton. She would have gotten the job done.”
He said he had been joking that he might ask Clinton, as she signed his book: “What happened to the rest of those emails?” But he wasn’t sure.
