Donald Trump’s moral outrage with Bill Clinton is in stark contrast to the many years he spent defending the former president.
It is yet another example of Trump saying one thing during this presidential campaign, while the factual record looks very different.
Background:
Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican House in 1998 for lying under oath about an affair with a White House intern. That same year he admitted to having other affairs, some of which he had denied publicly for years. While several women accused him of sexual misconduct, Clinton was never charged, nor convicted, of any of the accusations
After three years of highly partisan investigations, and the impeachment trial, the American people learned that Bill Clinton had a lot of sex outside his marriage. He still left office in January, 2001 with a 65 percent approval rating.
Twenty years later, it is safe to say no couple in America had had their sex life more closely investigated and debated than the Clinton’s.
Trump’s Support:
During the days of the impeachment trial, Trump often came to Clinton’s defense. At one point he had recommended the president admit nothing about his personal life:
“I’m not even sure that Bill shouldn’t have just gone in and taken the Fifth Amendment and said, ‘Look, I don’t get along with this man, Kenneth Starr. He’s after me. He’s a Republican. He’s this, he’s that,’ and, you know, just taken the Fifth Amendment,” said Trump. “It’s a terrible thing for a president to take the Fifth Amendment, but he probably should have done it. I don’t think he could have done any worse than what’s happened.”
Trump, in the same interview, went directly after Paula Jones, who had sued Clinton alleging sexual harassment:
“Paula Jones is a loser, but the fact is that she may be responsible for bringing down a president indirectly,” said Trump.
The same year he was asked by Chris Matthews what scandals could be waiting if he ran for president:
“Can you imagine how controversial that’d be?” said Trump. “You think about Clinton with the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine? Well, they might like my women better, too, you know.”
Big into looks, Trump, in a 1998 Fox News interview, called the Clinton accusers “unattractive.”
“The whole thing, it’s just so unattractive. Linda Tripp may be one of the most unattractive human beings I’ve ever seen—not women, human beings,” said Trump. “She’s just an unattractive person. This Lucianne Goldberg person, her agent or whatever she is, is just a terrible woman. You look at Paula Jones, I mean the whole cast of characters. It’s like it’s from Hell. It’s a terrible group of people.”
Later in the interview Trump continued:
“The whole group, it’s truly an unattractive cast of characters—Linda Tripp, Lucianne Goldberg—I mean, this woman—I watch her on television, just vomiting. She is so bad. The whole group—Paula Jones, Lewinsky—it’s just a really unattractive group.”
Trump added that if Clinton’s accusers were “supermodels” they would be more attractive to watch.
In a 1999 interview with Larry King he continued this theme.
“You know, the sad part about President Clinton, who I happen to like a lot, he could have had a great presidency if the whole thing with Monica and Paula Jones and the worst of all is, you know, Linda Tripp,” said Trump. “I mean, this woman, where she came from I have no idea, but this is the woman from hell.”
Trump considered himself so close to the Clinton that when they moved to New York he said, “I just wish I could have maybe represented him in buying the house.”
As for Bill Clinton’s presidency, Trump said in an interview with conservative Robert Novak:
“I think Bill Clinton is terrific. I think he’s done an amazing job. I think he’s probably got the toughest skin I’ve ever seen, and I think he’s a terrific guy. I just have to view the economy and the country. I think Bill Clinton has done a terrific job. I don’t think he’s been treated very fairly, but I think he’s done a terrific job.”
In 2008, Trump argued that Clinton should never have been impeached and that he got into trouble over “something that was totally unimportant” — in contrast to George W. Bush, who he said should have been impeached for “getting us into this horrible war in Iraq with lies.”
Trump said during Sunday nights debate that he is now a politician. Pretending to be morally outraged at someone, because that’s what your strongest supporters want, is the biggest political trick of all.