Donald Trump escalated the growing conflict over sexual politics between the Clinton and Trump campaigns on Wednesday when he called Bill Clinton “one of the great abusers of the world”.
Referencing Hillary Clinton’s recent claim that Trump is sexist, he said: “And she wants to accuse me of things. And the husband’s one of the great abusers of the world. Give me a break. Give me a break. Give me a break.”
Relations between the Clinton and Trump campaigns have become increasingly problematic as the rival camps seek advantage in the unpredictable realm of sexual politics.
The latest escalation kicked off last week after Trump used a crude sexual reference - schlonging - to describe Clinton’s loss to Barack Obama in 2008. In response, Clinton accused Trump of having a “penchant for sexism”.
In recent days, Trump has attacked the Clintons on ethics, performance and sexual innuendo as Clinton routinely draws on her husband’s economic record in campaign speeches.
But it’s Trump’s focus on the sexual realm – playing into an area that many conservative strategists believe could still harm the Clintons, both in terms of Bill Clinton’s history and Hillary Clinton’s defence of it, that is generating headlines.
On Monday, Trump tweeted: “If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women’s card on me, she’s wrong!”
He went further on Tuesday, saying that during Clinton’s political career, “there certainly were a lot of abuse of women, and you look at whether it’s Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones or any of them.”
And in his most recent comments late on Wednesday, Trump accused Clinton of “tremendous abuse”.
Trump, thrice married and with partially retracted accusations of marital abuse in his history, conceded that the opening of this new front made it entirely fair for the media or rivals to investigate his background.
“Frankly, Hillary brought up the whole thing with ‘sexist’, and all I did was reverse it on her because she’s got a major problem, happens to be right in her house.”
Bill Clinton has declined to respond to Trump while the Clinton campaign put out a statement saying: “Hillary Clinton won’t be bullied or distracted by attacks he throws at her and former President Clinton.”
Given the complex known sexual histories of the conflict’s leading male actors, the complexity of their various marriages and the sensitivity of Clinton’s past to his wife’s political aspirations, the 2016 presidential campaign is taking a diversion into territory typical to a highly charged daytime soap opera.
But it’s the Clinton campaign that appears to have the most to lose if the plot loses its focus, while thrice-married Trump, who once defended Bill Clinton’s “private life” and grandly promised that “nobody respects women more than Donald Trump” has described his own private life as fair game to reporters.
While consultants note that Clinton’s approval ratings rose after revelations of her husband’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky were made public, it’s also problematic territory for the Democratic frontrunner.
Veteran Democratic party strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who advised Bill Clinton during his 1996 re-election campaign, believes Hillary Clinton made her campaign vulnerable to Trump’s latest line of attack when she accused him of sexism, despite the seeming inevitability of the subject becoming a campaign issue.
“It made no sense to attack him when she could have sent a surrogate or a spokesperson to do it,” he said. By doing so, he added, she inadvertently established him as her equal.
“Engaging with him directly was not the wisest move because he’s on a high and has more credibility with parts of the electorate she needs in the fall,” he said. “He can now pound her all day long, and even if he’s not the nominee, that pounding is going to remain in the public’s mind.”
Sheinkopf says Trump’s attacks present an opportunity for Clinton opponents to remind voters of the seamier aspects of the Clinton presidency that for many pre-dates their political consciousness.
Further, some conservatives are believed to be readying the argument that Hillary Clinton played a larger part in defending – or of even enabling – aspects of her husband’s behavior.
Earlier this month, a young woman at a rally in New Hampshire asked Clinton if several women who alleged they were sexually harassed by her husband should be believed. “Well, I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence,” Clinton responded.
The latest salvoes appear to tip the argument over whether either man’s sexual history is relevant to the campaign.
In the opinion of Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, both men are relevant: “Trump has smeared women because of their looks,” she wrote. “Clinton has preyed on them.”
In her memoir, Trump’s first wife, Ivana, alleged her husband hit her while recovering from surgery to reduce the bald spot on his scalp. Trump has denied the accusation; his former wife has backed away from her claim.
In an email to the New York Times, Trump countered claims he is a less than ideal ambassador for the issue. He was, he said, “the perfect messenger because I fully understand life and all its wrinkles.”
That leaves the door open to Bill Clinton to reiterate his regret for the Lewinsky affair.
Last year, the former White House intern made news again in Vanity Fair when she gave a TED lecture on bullying.
“At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss,” Lewinsky said. “At the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences.”
But strategists believe that’s highly unlikely. “He wont respond,” predicts Sheinkopf. “He’ll smile, shake his head and keep moving.”
But, Sheinkopf warns, the latest attacks could erode his value as a surrogate campaigner for his wife. “It’s almost a generation since he was president. Now he’s just a popular fella. Trump’s strategy is to make Bill Clinton’s campaigning less valuable, to put himself on the same standing as Hillary, and then to begin to try to knock her off her pedestal.”
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