The Atlantic: Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy in a Crisis Situation—Once Again

By David A. Graham:

Some of them are arguing that Trump ought to bring up Bill Clinton’s affairs in the 1980s and 1990s. Trump flirted with the idea, saying he would bring Gennifer Flowers to the debate and then backing off. In the spin room after the debate, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Trump was going to get into it but didn’t do so out of respect for Chelsea Clinton.

It seems like that detente won’t last. Trump hinted that he had been “holding back,” which itself would raise doubts about his debate strategy. Not all of his surrogates were so reserved. In the post-debate “spin room” Monday evening, Giuliani used the affair to attack Clinton.

“If you didn’t know the moment Monica Lewinsky said that Bill Clinton violated her, that she was telling the truth, then you’re too stupid to be President,” Giuliani said. “I sure would have talked about what she did to Monica Lewinsky.” (As many people pointed out, Giuliani—who, while having an adulterous affair, informed his second wife that he wanted a divorce via a public press conference—was a curious envoy for this message.)

Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, meanwhile, told CNN that Trump deserved credit for being “polite and a gentleman” by not bringing it up. Eric Trump says it took “courage” for his father not to bring it up. A whole range of Trump surrogates are echoing the point.

Making Bill Clinton’s affairs a centerpiece is a bit of a headscratcher. Hillary Clinton’s favorability ratings hit their all-time high in 1998, when her husband’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was in the news. There’s a reason most Republicans have avoided attacking Hillary Clinton with the affairs: It has become entrenched conventional wisdom that doing so is actually good for her, as it allows her to seem sympathetic, humanizing a candidate who voters often find cool and robotic.

Perhaps this view is wrong, like the many other pieces of outdated political received wisdom that Trump has knocked down. But if the Trump campaign had come to that conclusion through careful thought, one would expect a rather different rollout. They would also likely have gone with the attack on Monday. The disorganized approach now—with Giuliani going for the attack head-on, while Conway argues Trump ought to be congratulated for not using it—suggests a campaign grasping for the nearest weapon it can find, without thinking very hard about how the fight might go.

The Full Story (September 28, 2016)

(Editor's Note: Before the second debate, Trump held a press conference in which he brought forth three of Bill Clinton's accusers, plus a woman who was raped by an individual Hillary Clinton represented as a pro bono attorney appointed by the Court. Monica Lewinsky was not present at the conference.)