Infidelity Wars

I've been contemplating the latest dust-up between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for a few days.  I'm sure you've not been out of town and have not missed it, but just as a reminder, it's sort of like this.

Hillary cast Trump as a sexist misogynist and general in the "war on women", and simultaneously decreed that her husband Bill, the former president, was going to mount his horse and get on the campaign trail in support of his wife.  Trump responded by tweeting out that she had opened Pandora's box in letting her sexist, misogynist husband out on the trail, and that he was "fair game if she wants to play that card."

In any other campaign, this might have been different, but this is most definitely not "any other campaign."  The leaders of the two races as 2015 draws to an end are a billionaire real estate developer and the wife of a former president.  You don't get that every day.

So when I say that I've been contemplating the latest dust-up, I've been mentally looking ahead to the topic coming up in an actual debate between Trump and Hillary, at least if she isn't in prison by then.

These two are not your normal debating types.  Trump may have a few notes in front of him to remind him of points he wants to make sure he remembers, but he is an off-the-cuff speaker.  He doesn't read a speech and doesn't use a teleprompter.  Accordingly, he says a lot of things others might not choose to say.  And he makes jokes -- not ha-ha funny jokes, but what are teases to his fellow candidates that sometimes he doesn't mean as anything but a tease (e.g., the Cuban evangelical reference).

Hillary Clinton does nothing unplanned.  Every hair is in place; her choice of attire is, as I wrote, clearly intended to focus the viewer elsewhere.  Her words, which are actually the point of her being there, are plastic and not compelling.  Aside from her possession of a uterus, there is nothing whatsoever that she brings to the table -- certainly not her track record -- that would distinguish her from countless other Democrats.  Her debating reflects that -- pap comments with an occasional scripted attempt at humor.

So let's put the two together on stage.  As I contemplate it, there is a point where, devoid of actual plans to accomplish anything, Hillary will refer to Trump personally as a sexist misogynist (or words to that effect).  Trump, unscripted to the bitter end, will find some words to note that Hillary was still married to, served in the administration of, and sent out to campaign for her, Bill Clinton.  He is of course, a man whose track record on women was quite abominable (Gennifer Flowers), likely forceful (Paula Jones) and thus illegal and, in the case of Monica Lewinsky, the then-young White House intern, contemptible in every way imaginable.

Hillary, scripted to the bitter end, will have to have a comeback, and it is likely to involve the escapades for the thrice-married Trump, and that's where the mind boggles.  Trump's rejoinders for such assaults are sometimes well-done ("I'm at 42, you're at 3, Jeb") and sometimes fall flat.  How will he respond to the inevitability of that attack?  And how can Hillary avoid attacking back when her vulnerability regarding Bill's bimbo eruptions arises?

I expect Trump already to have been contemplating that attack on his fidelity.  Perhaps he is deciding whether to unleash planned fusillades now, or hold them for the debate down the line.  But we will all be spellbound as a country when two candidates for president of the United States hold an argument as to which side's infidelities are more or less relevant, more or less legal, more or less corrupting and more or less cared about by the voting public.

Infidelity Wars: The Movie.  At a TV near you, coming soon, perhaps.

Copyright 2015 by Robert Sutton
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