Reporters put former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power through the wringer Monday for using the phrase "milk the soft power dividend" in a recent interview.

Power told Politico in a new interview that she had hosted 37 women ambassadors for an election night party in 2016. She said she had hoped it would be a fairly close race between then-candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton because she wanted all of her guests to have enough time to mingle with one of her guests, Gloria Steinem.

"So, your concern was that actually that the evening was going to be over early," reporter Susan Glasser asked in the interview.

"Too soon. I wanted to milk the soft power dividend of this moment, and instead, and HBO was there, I guess unfortunately or fortunately, to capture it all, but instead, you really see what so many people went through, which was all of that sense of promise and excitement, and frankly, a dose of complacency," Power recalled. "And then, it slowly dawning on us that not only was this going to be much closer than anybody anticipated, but that it was not going to end well."

The press, including those from mainstream and conservative-leaning outlets, mocked Power for creating a new phrase: