Presidential? Trump Doubles Down Into Political Sleaze Against Hillary

Imagine a world where the presumptive nominee of a major political party—a nominee whose history of sexism, misogyny and infidelity has been highlighted in the tabloids for the better part of 40 years—peddles an attack ad against a rival candidate insisting she’s responsible for her husband’s very public, and by all accounts very painful, extramarital affairs. 

Well, look no further, folks, because thanks to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, we’re living the dream.

Trump released this an ad yesterday via Instagram. It features a score of ominous Hallloween-esque music as a picture of Bill Clinton smoking a cigar fades into the background. In the shadow of the White House, a deluge of women who have alleged various improprieties levied on them by the former president speak about their experiences.

As if the subtext isn't loud enough for you, the ad’s denouement presents a widely out-of-context clip of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton laughing and clapping with her husband, as the screen flashes “Here We Go Again?”

For anyone who remembers President Clinton’s impeachment trials (or who read independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s report), the image of Bill Clinton smoking a cigar is meant to evoke the infamous discovery that the president of the United States once inserted a cigar into White House intern Monica Lewinsky’s vagina and smoked it. It’s the same gross imagery referenced by conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter last year, when he was kicked off air by CNN’s Don Lemon for railing against the president who turned “the Oval Office into a frat house and his intern into a humidor.”

Bill Clinton’s actions during his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and his alleged actions with other women, may be deplorable. But they’re his cross to bear, not Hillary's.