It must stop now: The media can’t allow Trump to make this election about Bill Clinton

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Salon

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2016 10:21 AM EDT

SEAN ILLING

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(Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking/Mike Segar/Photo montage by Salon)

Donald Trump has fired his first shots of the general election campaign. Predictably, they have nothing to do with anything that matters. In a new video released on Instagram, Trump features audio interviews with women who’ve accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. Against the backdrop of shadowy audio clips, the accompanying text asks if Hillary Clinton is “really protecting women.”

We hear the voices of Monica Lewinsky, Kathleen Wiley, and a clip from a 1999 Dateline interview with Juanita Broaddrick. Near the end, as the sound of Hillary Clinton’s cackle fades, the words “Here we go again” flash on the screen.

I’m no great defender of Bill Clinton. He was a competent president and did a lot of things well, but he’s also received a paats on a number of fronts. The triangulating, the serial lying, the capitulations to white Southerners – it was all transparent and nauseating. But here’s the thing: Bill Clinton isn’t running for president, and what he did with his penis 30 years ago is irrelevant.

Hillary Clinton is the nominee. To the extent that she’s aligned herself with her husband on policy issues, it’s fair game. But all the noise about Bill’s philandering is a ruse, and you can expect to hear more of it. “The Clintons collectively have dodged many, many, many bullets,” said Trump surrogate Roger Stone. “So much that was suppressed is going to get re-analyzed. So many of the things that they slipped by on will get reexamined. That’s something they should’ve counted on before getting into the race.” Translation: The goal is to make this campaign a referendum on Bill Clinton and the ’90s rather than a debate about the future.

This is a diversion. Worse still, we’ve been down this road already. As Rep. Peter King (R-NY) noted, “We’ve been here before, and for most it’s probably old news that people get a little squeamish about. Especially when he [Trump] brings it up in the abstract, he risks making the same mistake that Republicans made in 1998 when we got caught up in this stuff.” People are free to dig into Bill’s background all they want. But his sordid history has nothing to do with this election. If Trump is talking about Monica Lewinsky instead of his ethno-nationalist rhetoric or his incoherent policy positions, he’s winning.

The media has an obligation not to countenance this. This is what Trump does: stoke controversy, divert the media, control the narrative. It’s a rather naked attempt to avoid the issues. Trump blankets his opponents with insults and white noise in order to force them into the mud, where he’s most comfortable. It’s a brutally simple but effective tactic. Naturally, he lies about his motivations. “They [the Clintons] said things about me which were very nasty. And I don’t want to play that game at all. I don’t want to play it – at all,” Trump told The Washington Post. “But they said things about me that were very nasty. And, you know, as long as they do that, you know, I will play at whatever level I have to play at.”

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Nonsense. Trump is a one-trick pony. He knows only one level, one tone, one style. He’s a bully, and that’s all he is. A candidate who references his penis on a presidential debate stage isn’t interested in civil discourse. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Monday that Trump’s latest attack was part of a “strategy to try to distract from an issues-based campaign,” and he’s absolutely right. Trump founders when forced to defend his half-baked proposals; talking about Vince Foster or some other conspiracy theory ensures he doesn’t have to.

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Trump will drag this debate to the floor and hope it stays there. There’s no other way forward for him. The Clinton campaign would do well not to play this game with Trump – it’s a no-lose proposition for him. The media, for their part, has to push back. Every time Trump mentions Bill or some sexcapade from the past, the response should be: Ok, but how will you build that wall? Or what does it mean to make America great again? Or why did you lunge into presidential politics by embracing birtherism? Or explain how you can cut a deal with Kim Jong-un? Or how can you undo the process of globalization without starting a trade war?

These are the issues that matter. Trump will do everything possible not to talk about them. If he wants to be president, the media must force him to.

Sean Illing is a USAF veteran who previously taught philosophy and politics at Loyola and LSU. He is currently a staff writer for Salon. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Read his blog here.

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SALON.COM SURRENDERS "SHE JUST CAN'T WIN"

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Hillary Clinton just can’t win: Democrats need to accept that only Bernie Sanders can defeat the GOP

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In one major poll, Bernie Sanders is now leading Hillary Clinton nationally. In most others, he’s not far behind from the former Secretary of State. Vermont’s Senator already has an “edge over Clinton in matchups with GOP opponents,” dispelling Clinton’s electability myth. In an average of national polls, Bernie Sanders is less  than eight points from Hillary Clinton, after being over 50 points behind in 2015. In addition, there’s only one person capable of challenging a Republican in 2016 without James Comey declaring national security was jeopardized by a private server.

Bernie Sanders is the only Democratic candidate capable of winning the White House in 2016. Please name the last person to win the presidency alongside an ongoing FBI investigation, negative favorability ratings, questions about character linked to continual flip-flops, a dubious money trail of donors, and the genuine contempt of the rival political party. In reality, Clinton is a liability to Democrats, and certainly not the person capable of ensuring liberal Supreme Court nominees and President Obama’s legacy.

The precious and all-knowing polls already show Bernie Sanders defeating Republicans in a general election and Robert Reich has already explained why Sanders can easily win the presidency. In a Huffington Postpiece titled “6 Responses to Bernie Skeptic,” Reich debunks the trusted myth of Clinton supporters and Republicans:

“He’d never beat Trump or Cruz in a general election.”

Wrong. According to the latest polls, Bernie is the strongest Democratic candidate in the general election, defeating both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in hypothetical matchups. (The latest RealClear Politics averages of all polls shows Bernie beating Trump by a larger margin than Hillary beats Trump, and Bernie beating Cruz while Hillary loses to Cruz.)

“America would never elect a socialist.”

P-l-e-a-s-e. America’s most successful and beloved government programs are social insurance – Social Security and Medicare. A highway is a shared social expenditure, as is the military and public parks and schools. The problem is we now have excessive socialism for the rich (bailouts of Wall Street, subsidies for Big Ag and Big Pharma, monopolization by cable companies and giant health insurers, giant tax-deductible CEO pay packages) – all of which Bernie wants to end or prevent.

As Reich points out in his article, America is already a nation of Democratic-Socialists, but many of us (Democrats and Republicans) simply uphold “excessive socialism for the rich.”

Bernie Sanders, unlike Clinton, defeats Donald Trump in a landslide of  “epic proportions” in a general election and is the antithesis of a Republican. If you don’t believe me, then watch my friend Brian Hanley’sanimated rap videos about Bernie Sanders demolishing Donald Trump.

Most importantly, and something the naysayers should learn, is that Bernie Sanders does better than Clinton against the GOP in a general election.

In addition, American voters don’t trust Hillary Clinton. At what point will critics of Bernie Sanders realize that American voters will never vote for a candidate they don’t trust and don’t like? In October of 2015, I explained in the following YouTube segment why Clinton is unelectable, and in another segment why Clinton must always evolve on key issues.

53.8% of all American voters have an “unfavorable” view of Hillary Clinton.

67% of American voters find Hillary Clinton “not honest and trustworthy,” compared with 59% for Donald Trump. Yes, more people trust Donald Trump.

After all, it’s difficult to trust a politician who completely fabricated a story about being fired upon by snipers. Like POLITIFACT states, “it’s hard to understand how she could err on something so significant as whether she did or didn’t dodge sniper bullets.”

71% of men and 64% of women find Clinton “not honest and trustworthy.”

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74% of Independent voters find Clinton “not honest and trustworthy.”

35% of Democrats find Clinton “not honest and trustworthy.” Yes, even Democrats.

In contrast, Kathy Frankovic of YouGov.com states “Bernie Sanders is the most widely trusted presidential candidate of either party.”

Quinnipiac’s Feb. 18 report states “Sanders has the highest favorability rating of any candidate and the highest scores for honesty and integrity, for caring about voters’ needs and problems and for sharing voters’ values.” Sanders also ties Clinton on “having strong leadership qualities.”

In terms of Clinton’s leadership qualities, they haven’t translated to good judement. If the Clinton campaign expects to build upon President Obama’s accomplishments, then it should first discuss things with a former Obama intelligence official. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn explains his view of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal in a CNNarticle titled “Former Obama Intel Official: Hillary Clinton Should Drop Out”:

President Barack Obama’s former top military intelligence official said Hillary Clinton should pull out of the presidential race while the FBI investigate her use of a private email server for official government communication while secretary of state.

“If it were me, I would have been out the door and probably in jail,” said Flynn, who decried what he said was a “lack of accountability, frankly, in a person who should have been much more responsible in her actions as the secretary of state of the United States of America.”

“This over-classification excuse is not an excuse,” Flynn said Friday. “If it’s classified, it’s classified.”

Flynn, who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency from July 2012 to August 2014, told Tapper that Clinton “knew better…“

No, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn isn’t part of the GOP. He actually worked for President Obama. If you think the FBI, a former Obama intelligence official, the State Department’s own“internal watchdog,” and all the other elements of this expanded investigation make for a great presidency, then you’re certainly ready for Hillary in 2016.

Yes, a former Obama intelligence official suggests Clinton “drop out” of the presidential race. The FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s emails is“not letting up” and there is no end in sight. Good luck with nationally televised debates against a ruthless opponent like Trump (who will certainly make the email scandal a primary issue of every discussion), if you fear the loss of Supreme Court nominees and the future of our country. It’s doubtful any GOP challenger would gracefully declare, “Enough of the emails.”

Even if you believe Clinton would win a general election, remember that the FBI, or even the State Department, could uncover yet another group of“Top Secret” emails well into Clinton’s first term. The FBI could also urge the Justice Department to take action; even if Clinton wins the presidency. We’ve already seen one Clinton White House defend against scandal.

By the way, can anyone at The Daily Beast, The Daily Banter, or The Daily Hillary Clinton Inevitability Press please explain why Hillary Clinton felt the need to own a private server?

Vermont’s senator will become our next president and it should come as no surprise to people actually paying attention, and not repeating establishment talking points. I’ve been saying this since June 25, 2015, when 730,000 people on Facebook liked my article titled “It’s Official — Bernie Sanders Has Overtaken Hillary Clinton In the Hearts and Minds of Democrats.” True, I was wrong about Iowa, but at least I got the winner right, and I’ll be right about my greatest prediction: On Jan. 20, 2017 Bernie Sanders Will Be Sworn In as America’s 45th President.

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Salon: Matt Drudge might elect Donald Trump: The GOP front-runner’s secret weapon is the conservative media icon

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Donald Trump has already won one important primary, and that’s why he’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Every time Donald Trump says or does something that would destroy the careers of most politicians, he maintains or even gains supporters. It seems that nothing he does erodes his support. His voters are loyal, that’s for sure.

If you want to understand the Trump phenomenon and the durability of his campaign, you have to understand his voters and how they get their information. Many on the left mistakenly think that Trump supporters are “low-information voters.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, it’s the opposite. They consume a lot of news and information, and almost all of it comes from their most trusted source — Matt Drudge.

Matt Drudge is all in for Trump, and he is making sure that his millions of daily readers are getting the news.

Drudge, of course, is the owner of the popular conservative news aggregator the Drudge Report, a site that records approximately 2 million unique visitors a day with about 700 million page views per month. His readers are loyal, too. A 2014 Pew Research Center study found that the Drudge Report is among the most trusted news sources among conservatives, while most mainstream media outlets register a very high level of distrust from that group.

His loyal readers don’t trust information coming from other sources, and that allows Drudge to carefully curate links to articles that help to further his pro-Trump point of view among that audience. The most pro-Trump conservative news site isBreitbart.com. Breitbart is so pro-Trump that some have charged that the Breitbart company is being paid by Trump for favorable coverage. The truth is that Breitbart’s loyalty is more to Drudge than it is to Trump.

Breitbart was founded by the late Andrew Breitbart, who was the Drudge Report’s first employee. He founded the Breitbart news site after leaving the Drudge Report, but remained personally and professionally close to Drudge. The Breitbart site established itself quickly as the go-to news source for grass-roots anti-establishment conservatives, with an assist from Drudge who regularly posted Breitbart article links on the Drudge Report. Over the years, the Drudge Report has directed millions and millions of readers to Breitbart stories.

It’s not hard to find evidence of Drudge’s success in gaining his audience’s support of Trump. Trump has won every post-debate online poll of Drudge Report readers — by a lot. Those polls attract hundreds of thousands of votes. After the last GOP debate more than 350,000 voteswere registered and Donald Trump won 43 percent, followed by Ted Cruz with 27 percent. That audience loyalty is translating into strong support for Trump in the public scientific polls, too. Thanks to Drudge, Trump has led the GOP field nationally since July.

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The loyalty and respect go both ways — Trump goes out of his way to praise Drudge and mention his victories in the Drudge polls at every opportunity.

Why is Matt Drudge working to elect Donald Trump president? I haven’t asked him, but it’s not hard to connect the dots.

First, Drudge has a right-of-center point of view and describes himself as “more of a populist.” Trump’s campaign is clearly tapping into that conservative anti-establishment populism that’s been fueling the energy on the right in recent years. Drudge is primarily responsible for fanning the flames of that sentiment. He helped to build the Tea Party movement and is a constant thorn in the side of establishment Republicans in Washington.

The immigration issue is another example of Trump’s direct connection to Drudge. An opponent of immigration reform and “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants, Drudge has made it his top priority in recent years. His coverage of that issue has been credited with killing the “Gang of Eight” legislation in Washington, and even leading to the primary defeat of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Of course, Trump has made immigration the centerpiece of his campaign and he credits best-selling author and conservative provocateur Ann Coulter’s new book, “Adios America,” with shaping his view on that issue. Coulter and Drudge are close friends. In fact, they were seen sitting together in the audience at last week’s Republican debate on CNN. She even dedicated one of her many bestsellers to Drudge.

In addition to being anti-establishment and anti-immigration, Drudge is also famously anti-Clinton, both Bill and Hillary. The success of his site is a direct result of the attention he garnered when he broke the Monica Lewinsky story back in 1998. It put him on the political map. Since then, he’s unmatched in the distribution of anti-Clinton stories and rumors.

All of those things have enabled Drudge to cultivate the perfect audience for the time, and they are ready to engage in an epic battle. Matt Drudge’s dream 2016 presidential match-up is his anti-establishment, anti-immigration populist Donald Trump against his favorite target, Hillary Clinton. He’s going to do everything he can to make that dream come true by making sure that his sizable audience stays loyal to Donald Trump in the primary. So far, so good for Drudge.

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