Trump attacks putting Clinton in a bind

 So far, Hillary Clinton has ignored Donald Trump's personal attacks. Photo: Reuters
So far, Hillary Clinton has ignored Donald Trump's personal attacks. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump this week took his use of sordid accusations against Democrat Hillary Clinton to levels unprecedented in modern US presidential campaigns, in the latest example of the Republican's unorthodox playbook.

The presumptive Republican nominee is working to gain stronger footing and offset a big advantage Clinton is likely to have ahead of the November 8 presidential election: a huge campaign war chest that she and her allies intend to use to launch a barrage of attacks against him.

Trump is using the same strategy he used repeatedly during the Republican nomination fight against rivals like Ted Cruz: making incendiary statements that US television networks cannot resist covering, giving him hours of free media and putting his opponents on the defensive.

The strategy may already be working.

Trump has raised more than a few eyebrows with his latest round of attacks against Clinton. He has turned history into headlines that play like a virtual reel in the 24-hour news world of cable TV and the internet.

Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said the strategy makes sense.

"Clearly, she's going to have massive amounts of money," Lewandowski told Reuters. "The difference is Mr Trump has funded his campaign. What we've been able to do in this campaign cycle is to generate earned media based on Mr Trump's ability to be a straight talker, and genuine and authentic, and I think that's what drives the news cycle."

Trump's latest salvos include a rape accusation against former President Bill Clinton dating to the 1970s and the suicide of an aide to the former president in 1993 - events that the campaign links to Hillary Clinton.

An online video released by Trump has various women accusing the former president of rape or unwanted sexual advances. Trump accused Hillary Clinton of helping to silence the women. The Clintons and their supporters have dismissed the charges as baseless and politically motivated.

Then, in an interview with The Washington Post, Trump suggested that the Clintons may have been involved in the 1993 death of Vince Foster, a former aide to Bill Clinton and a friend of Hillary Clinton, even though more than five investigations, including one conducted by Republican special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, concluded that Foster committed suicide in a Virginia park.

Trump was alluding to theories over the years that have been circulated in tabloid publications, in the depths of the internet and in books by the Clintons' foes.

On Wednesday, Trump's campaign accidentally sent an email to a reporter at Politico revealing that the Republican plans to next attack Clinton regarding Whitewater, a real estate scandal that plagued Bill Clinton's administration. No wrongdoing by the Clintons was ever proven.

The attacks have put Hillary Clinton on her back foot.

Trump "just continues to gobble news cycle after news cycle," said Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, who ran the Super PACs that backed Senator Ted Cruz in the primary and aggressively attacked Trump. "Clinton is spending less time campaigning about the future and more time explaining the past than she would probably like."

The barrage puts Clinton in a bind. So far, she has opted to ignore Trump's personal attacks and her campaign has offered general pushback.

But Clinton risks the negative onslaught dragging down her standing with the public and irreversibly damaging her general election hopes.

"I played a lot of hardball in my life, but I don't envy what the Clinton campaign is up against here. Trump himself has totally changed the political dynamic," said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist who supports Clinton.

"What they can't afford to do is get in the gutter with the guy. He has absolutely no morals or scruples. Getting into the gutter with him is an absolute waste of time."

Speaker still undecided on support

Paul Ryan, the top US elected Republican, has continued to withhold his support from Trump for the nomination, saying he is not ready to endorse the real estate billionaire, a political neophyte.

Ryan, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, brushed aside reports that he was ready to endorse Trump during a meeting with reporters in the Capitol. "I haven't made a decision," he said, adding that he had no timetable for doing so.

The 46-year-old is the only member of the Republican congressional leadership who has not formally embraced the presumptive Republican nominee. Ryan is expected to chair the party's nominating convention in July in Cleveland.

Ryan and Trump were, however, scheduled to speak by telephone on Wednesday evening, a spokesman for Ryan said. "This is not an endorsement call," Zack Roday said.

Ryan set up the call with Trump to continue discussing the party's campaign agenda, a Ryan aide said.

Trump's ascent has shaken the party establishment and raised concerns among some Republicans over whether they can unify behind him, given his harsh rhetoric and shifting policy positions in a brutal primary fight that once had 17 candidates.

 

 

 

Add a Comment