Former interim Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile called Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential campaign a "cult" on Wednesday.
MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough asked Brazile why Clinton ultimately lost to Donald Trump.
"It should never have been a close race. So bottom line it for us ... Why did they lose? Was it, at the end of the day, arrogance?" Scarborough asked.
"Yes, Joe," Brazile said. "It was a cult; I felt like it was a cult. You could not penetrate them."
The Democratic Party leader went on to say she was a grassroots organizer and knows "street politics better than I know 'sweet' politics," but she wasn’t able to help Clinton win without having control of resources.
"I can not help a candidate if I don't have the resources," she said. "If I can not spend the resources that the party is raising because there's a blind agreement"
Brazile’s new book, Hacks, describes how the Clinton campaign saved the Democratic party from financial ruin while taking control of DNC finances in the lead up to the 2016 election. The joint fundraising agreement resulted in the Clinton campaign controlling fundraising and the distribution of DNC funds well before a single primary vote was cast, leading Brazile to write the process was "rigged" in her book. Brazile has since walked back her claims, even claiming she never used the word "rigged" during an interview on Tuesday despite the fact she clearly did.
Although the former DNC chair has waffled on some of her allegations, she still called for "much needed changes and reform" within the Democratic Party on Wednesday.
"You gotta change the recipe. Yesterday was a wake-up call for the Democrats too because you know what, it's coming from the bottom up. It's not coming from the top down anymore," Brazile said.
Jeff Weaver, former campaign manager for Clinton's Democratic primary challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I., Vt.), also called for reform on Tuesday. Meanwhile, current DNC Chairman Tom Perez has dodged on questions of whether the 2016 primary process was "rigged," and has focused on his efforts to implement reforms in the debate process moving forward.