Donald Trump seems to be itching to bring up Bill Clinton’s sex life the next time he debates Hillary Clinton. It’s a high risk strategy.
It could offend women, remind voters of Trump’s own marital infidelity and frustrate participants at the next debate, where voters will post the questions, likely more about issues that affect their lives.
Trump’s side already has raised the subject of Bill Clinton’s sex scandals in the past as a way to impugn his wife both for staying married to him and for criticizing the women who kissed and told.
Republican strategist Kim Alfano, a Trump critic who described him as “the first guy you would want to slap in a bar,” nevertheless said of Hillary Clinton, “She was relentless when it was her husband who was the jerk.”
Clinton did side with her husband against women’s accusations in his campaign for president and in the White House.
In his memoir, former top Clinton administration aide George Stephanopoulos recalled an incident where a woman known as a “Little Rock groupie” was claiming in Penthouse magazine that Bill Clinton had propositioned her when he was governor of Arkansas. Stephanopoulos recalled Hillary Clinton’s response: “We have to destroy her story.”
More than that, Trump allies slam her for staying married.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a top Trump adviser, this week called Hillary Clinton “too stupid to be president” for remaining with her husband after the scandal involving Monica Lewinsky broke in 1998.
Trump himself has been married three times, carried on an extramarital affair and, when younger, publicly bragged about his reputation as a Lothario. Top advisers such as Giuliani and Newt Gingrich also had affairs, and are also each on their third marriage.
More than a quarter of female likely voters said their opinions of Trump had dropped after watching the debate, according to an NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released Thursday. Clinton’s image improved for nearly a third. Attacking a woman for her husband’s indiscretions could offend the very voters he wants to attract.
“That won’t play well with suburban women,” said Terry Madonna, director of the Franklin and Marshall College Poll in Pennsylvania, likely a pivotal state this year.
“He needs to focus on his potential leadership and policies to move the voters that are uncommitted or who could still change their minds. It’s far better for him to stay on message and to think about a different approach for the next debate.”
If you’re trying to sling some mud about a 25-year-old scandal, it’s probably not going to play too well with the public.
Alan Schroeder, Northeastern University expert on presidential debates
The issue also might not be suited for the town-hall-style second debate Oct. 9 in St. Louis, where voters will be asking the questions.
“That could potentially be very awkward or backfire in a town hall format, where the concerns are not geared toward personal scandal,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican who worked on the campaign of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. “It’s about issues that affect the voters.”
Trump was clearly riled at the end of the first debate.
Clinton raised the subject when she said Trump had referred to former Miss Universe Alicia Machado of Venezuela as “Miss Piggy” because she had gained weight and as “Miss Housekeeping,” ostensibly because she’s Hispanic.
Trump said he was sorely tempted to respond on how the Clintons had treated women such as Lewinsky.
“I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, ‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it,’ ” Trump said in the debate. “It’s not nice.”
He told Fox News the next morning that he’d held his fire because he “didn’t feel comfortable doing it with Chelsea in the room,” referring to the former first couple’s daughter: “I think Chelsea is a fine young lady.”
Before I would drop that bombshell in a debate, they need to do the kind groundwork that the Clinton campaign is doing. It’s not credible coming out of his mouth attacking her.
Republican strategist Kim Alfano
Chelsea Clinton told Cosmopolitan magazine: “My reaction to that is just what my reaction has been kind of every time Trump has gone after my mom or my family, which is that it’s a distraction from his inability to talk about what’s actually at stake in this election.”
Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook told CNN this week that Clinton is “ready for anything.”
David Goldstein: 202-383-6105, @GoldsteinDavidJ