Bette Midler: Second presidential debate ‘was a real low point in our history’

Bette Midler summed up Sunday’s presidential debate with one tongue-in-cheek tweet: “I need a drink.”

But the iconic singer was more somber discussing the town hall between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Sandyland.

“I was very disheartened by the debate,” she told Sandra Bernhard on Tuesday. “I thought it was a real low point in our history, but as was pointed out to me the other day, probably even last night, historically Americans have always been fractious with each other. I think people are looking to be heard. That’s why I think. I think they want their voices recognized. I don’t think they want to be invisible anymore, and I think there are a lot of people with good will. I think the country’s full of people with good will, but I think there are also people who feel that they’ve been dissed, beyond disrespected, that their needs and their desires and their culture has been disrespected, and lots of people have suffered terribly from the fallout of the recession, and they feel that the America that they grew up with is a different place.”

Speaking of Twitter, Midler said she uses the platform “to entertain,” tweeting topical one-liners, and doesn’t “engage” with online trolls.

“I try to be funny with my social media. I very, very rarely answer anybody back, and I almost never read what’s posted, what comes back to me,” she said, adding that she’s hoping to avoid vitriol like the racist attacks against Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones.

“I couldn’t believe that they weren’t arrested,” Midler said of the online antagonists. “I mean, it was so vile.”

Sandyland airs daily at 12 p.m. ET on SiriusXM Radio Andy (Ch. 102).

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