Pirate's Cove

The word “rape” fails to appear in this Times article by Patrick Healy and Maggie Haberman. Sexual assault only appears once. It barely touches upon the whole issue of how Bill treated women over the years, nor how Hillary has enabled and defended this behavior, nor how she attempted to destroy the women who credibly accused her husband of rape and sexual misconduct

Donald Trump Opens New Line of Attack on Hillary Clinton: Her Marriage

Donald J. Trump unleashed a slashing new attack on Hillary Clinton over Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions on Friday as he sought to put the Clintons’ relationship at the center of his political argument against her before their next debate.

Mr. Trump, aiming to unnerve Mrs. Clinton, even indicated that he was rethinking his statement at their last debate that he would “absolutely” support her if she won in November, saying: “We’re going to have to see. We’re going to see what happens. We’re going to have to see.”

In an interview with The New York Times, he also contended that infidelity was “never a problem” during his three marriages, though his first ended in an ugly divorce after Mr. Trump began a relationship with the woman who became his second wife.

The article spends a little time on former Ms. Universe, Alicia Machado, because of course it does

Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, argued that Mrs. Clinton’s support for Ms. Machado was part of a pattern by the Democrat of treating women to suit her own political ends, and raised Mrs. Clinton’s criticism of women who had been involved with her husband, such as Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers.

He said he was bringing up Mr. Clinton’s infidelities because he thought they would repulse female voters and turn them away from the Clintons, and because he was eager to unsettle Mrs. Clinton in their next two debates and on the campaign trail.

“She’s nasty, but I can be nastier than she ever can be,” Mr. Trump said.

“Hillary Clinton was married to the single greatest abuser of women in the history of politics,” he added about Mr. Clinton. “Hillary was an enabler, and she attacked the women who Bill Clinton mistreated afterward. I think it’s a serious problem for them, and it’s something that I’m considering talking about more in the near future.”

Quite frankly, if he was going to do this, he should have done it in response to Hillary during the debates, while noting that if she wanted to go down these sleazy roads, well, there are plenty of roads leading to Bill. Instead, he’s been defending (which is losing in politics) and talking way too much about Machado, doubling down, getting silly. By this metric, he lost the debate.

Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have tried to suggest focusing on accusations that Mrs. Clinton tried to discredit women who said they had been harassed by Mr. Clinton. Chief among those suggesting this approach is Roger Stone, the longest-serving Trump adviser, who wrote a book called “The Clintons’ War on Women,” laying out accusations from Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, who have accused Mr. Clinton of sexual assault — accusations the Clintons or their lawyer David Kendall have denied.

Well, that’s one way to gloss over the dozens of women who credibly accused Bill, and there’s no mention of how Hillary attacked those women, such as calling Gennifer Flowers “trailer trash” and Monica Lewinsky “narcissistic loony tunes.”

In the interview Friday afternoon, Mr. Trump said he would begin preparing as soon as this weekend for the next debate, on Oct. 9, and would be plotting ways to attack Mrs. Clinton on policy issues like trade and national security, as well as to unnerve her with possible targets like her husband’s past.

He should have been doing this for the first debate. And, quite honestly, while the Times seems rather upset that Trump would consider doing this, Trump seems to be rather lost and in over his head. With a bit over a month left, things really haven’t gotten much better. There’s no real ground game beyond speeches and depending on the Trumpites. I doubt there have been all that many offices opened in the states. He is easily baited by Team Hillary, and looks bad taking it. Does he really want to win?