There have been questions on who benefits with Trump's stepped up attacks the last week on HRC-after she called him out for helping ISIS with his wildly irresponsible comments at last Saturday's debate.
I'd argue it helps both Trump and Hillary. The big critique that Jeb and the Establishment have been making is the electability argument-Trump can't beat Hillary. That point is legitimate but-happily for the Clinton team-the base is not listening.
Trump had got himself some rare criticism from Right wing radio after he criticized Ted Cruz. This week Trump is surely back in with their good graces after all his vulgar and repulsive attacks on HRC.
There were two types of questions asked after the outbreak of the Clinton-Trump fireworks.
1. Could this be the thing that finally brings Trump down? No one really asked this seriously which shows they have finally learned. And the idea that Trump's attacks on Hillary would hurt him with the GOP base is, of course, absurd.
2. But what was asked more was could this hurt Hillary herself?
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/12/gregs-wife-worries-that-trump-can-beat.html?showComment=1450838395485#c7088142307130956037
For that to happen you'd have to believe that Clinton supporters would turn on her because Donald Trump of all people is attacking her. Obviously it's the same with her-being attacked by Trump can only increase her standing among Democrats.
So for now, it's a win-win. In the general , if Trump is the nominee it will be a win for her. The thing to remember is the beauty here is that the Trump supporters and the general electorate are more or less mutually exclusive here.
The more Trump plays this game the more his base loves him and the more disgusted the general electorate becomes. In other words, the big loser is the GOP no matter what.
And Trump in the mind of the base has answered the electability problem. Think about it. He has attacked her in brutally personal terms. He has 'warned' her not to 'play the gender card' or he's going to bring up Monica Lewinsky, Juanita Broadrick-in the 90s the vast Right wing conspiracy had claimed President Clinton raped her, etc.
In Trump's mind, this makes Hillary and her husband the 'real sexists.'
“She’s playing that woman’s card left and right, and women are more upset about it than anybody else, including most men,” Trump said on Fox News
"On Sunday, Trump also defended a message he sent Saturday on Twitter that said: “Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but he's demonstrated a penchant for sexism, so inappropriate!”
Trump said he considers Bill Clinton “fair game.”
“The ‘penchant for sexism’ was exactly her words, and I just turned them,” he said. “I thought it was fine.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-woman-217146#ixzz3vWzvG7kE
This will convince the base as this is what they want to hear what they've wanted the Establishment GOP to say for years. Of course, this didn't work in the 90s and if Trump were to run on it in the general it would just point out how pathetic the GOP really is that this is the message of their selected candidate.
But right now it surely will help Trump rise even more with the base-while also if anything helping Hillary. A win-win-with one loser-the Republican party.
P.S. Trump seems not to know what 'sexism' actually is. Simply cheating on your wife is in my view a negative character trait but anyone who wants to reduce sexism simply to that, doesn't get it.
You might say there is individual sexism, then there is institutional and structural sexism. Trump is basically claiming that Bill Clinton is a sexist on the individual level and so HRC who was in any case a victim of her husband's affairs, isn't allowed to ever discuss sexism!
Meanwhile. Trump has his own many stories of individual sexism. He even has his own Juanita Broadrick story-Ivana Trump actually accused him in her book in the early 90s of raping her while they were married.
I'd argue it helps both Trump and Hillary. The big critique that Jeb and the Establishment have been making is the electability argument-Trump can't beat Hillary. That point is legitimate but-happily for the Clinton team-the base is not listening.
Trump had got himself some rare criticism from Right wing radio after he criticized Ted Cruz. This week Trump is surely back in with their good graces after all his vulgar and repulsive attacks on HRC.
There were two types of questions asked after the outbreak of the Clinton-Trump fireworks.
1. Could this be the thing that finally brings Trump down? No one really asked this seriously which shows they have finally learned. And the idea that Trump's attacks on Hillary would hurt him with the GOP base is, of course, absurd.
2. But what was asked more was could this hurt Hillary herself?
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/12/gregs-wife-worries-that-trump-can-beat.html?showComment=1450838395485#c7088142307130956037
For that to happen you'd have to believe that Clinton supporters would turn on her because Donald Trump of all people is attacking her. Obviously it's the same with her-being attacked by Trump can only increase her standing among Democrats.
So for now, it's a win-win. In the general , if Trump is the nominee it will be a win for her. The thing to remember is the beauty here is that the Trump supporters and the general electorate are more or less mutually exclusive here.
The more Trump plays this game the more his base loves him and the more disgusted the general electorate becomes. In other words, the big loser is the GOP no matter what.
And Trump in the mind of the base has answered the electability problem. Think about it. He has attacked her in brutally personal terms. He has 'warned' her not to 'play the gender card' or he's going to bring up Monica Lewinsky, Juanita Broadrick-in the 90s the vast Right wing conspiracy had claimed President Clinton raped her, etc.
In Trump's mind, this makes Hillary and her husband the 'real sexists.'
“She’s playing that woman’s card left and right, and women are more upset about it than anybody else, including most men,” Trump said on Fox News
"On Sunday, Trump also defended a message he sent Saturday on Twitter that said: “Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but he's demonstrated a penchant for sexism, so inappropriate!”
Trump said he considers Bill Clinton “fair game.”
“The ‘penchant for sexism’ was exactly her words, and I just turned them,” he said. “I thought it was fine.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-woman-217146#ixzz3vWzvG7kE
This will convince the base as this is what they want to hear what they've wanted the Establishment GOP to say for years. Of course, this didn't work in the 90s and if Trump were to run on it in the general it would just point out how pathetic the GOP really is that this is the message of their selected candidate.
But right now it surely will help Trump rise even more with the base-while also if anything helping Hillary. A win-win-with one loser-the Republican party.
P.S. Trump seems not to know what 'sexism' actually is. Simply cheating on your wife is in my view a negative character trait but anyone who wants to reduce sexism simply to that, doesn't get it.
You might say there is individual sexism, then there is institutional and structural sexism. Trump is basically claiming that Bill Clinton is a sexist on the individual level and so HRC who was in any case a victim of her husband's affairs, isn't allowed to ever discuss sexism!
Meanwhile. Trump has his own many stories of individual sexism. He even has his own Juanita Broadrick story-Ivana Trump actually accused him in her book in the early 90s of raping her while they were married.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/07/shades-of-bill-cosby-could-trump-be.html
I agree with Josh Marshall, HRC should beat Trump soundly-maybe even more lopsidedly than Cruz-but Trump, unlike Cruz, is a much bigger wildcard.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/some-christmas-eve-morsels
But the beauty with Trump is the Clinton team will never run out of comments to attack. You could more more or less get him for something different every single day of the campaign.
Jeb Bush and friends were never in a position to really go after Trump, because it's uncomfortable attacking him from the Left in a GOP primary. Jeb can criticize Trump's immigration plan but then this is why the base doesn't trust Jeb-he's seen as week on border security.
He can attack Trump on the Muslim ban but he himself said we should only take Christian refugees. The problem is the GOP can't take out a guy that they can't really disagree with too much on. At best they can accuse him of saying things in an inartful way.
With Hillary the gloves will come off. She doesn't need to please the GOP base. So Trump will not get the free ride in a general he's getting here.
I agree with Josh Marshall, HRC should beat Trump soundly-maybe even more lopsidedly than Cruz-but Trump, unlike Cruz, is a much bigger wildcard.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/some-christmas-eve-morsels
But the beauty with Trump is the Clinton team will never run out of comments to attack. You could more more or less get him for something different every single day of the campaign.
Jeb Bush and friends were never in a position to really go after Trump, because it's uncomfortable attacking him from the Left in a GOP primary. Jeb can criticize Trump's immigration plan but then this is why the base doesn't trust Jeb-he's seen as week on border security.
He can attack Trump on the Muslim ban but he himself said we should only take Christian refugees. The problem is the GOP can't take out a guy that they can't really disagree with too much on. At best they can accuse him of saying things in an inartful way.
With Hillary the gloves will come off. She doesn't need to please the GOP base. So Trump will not get the free ride in a general he's getting here.
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